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1997 UEFA European Rankings 1999 2001
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UEFA European National Team Ranking Table 1999
  WCP 1998 ECP 2000 Combined
No. Team Pts Pl Pts Av Pts P Pts Av Pts P Pts Av
1

Spain

10

26

2.60

8

21

2.625

18

47

2.611

2

Romania

10

28

2.80

10

24

2.40

20

52

2.60

3

Norway

8

20

2.50

10

25

2.50

18

45

2.50

4

Sweden

10

21

2.10

8

22

2.75

18

43

2.388

5

Netherlands

8

19

2.375

-

-

-

8

19

2.375

6

Czech Republic

10

16

1.60

10

30

3.00

20

46

2.30

7

Germany

10

22

2.20

8

19

2.375

18

41

2.277

8

Belgium

8

18

2.25

-

-

-

8

18

2.25

9

Yugoslavia

10

23

2.30

8

17

2.125

18

40

2.222

10

Austria

10

25

2.50

8

13

1.625

18

38

2.111

11

Portugal

10

19

1.90

10

23

2.30

20

42

2.10

12

France

-

-

-

10

21

2.10

10

21

2.10

13

Italy

8

18

2.25

8

15

1.875

16

33

2.062

14

Scotland

10

23

2.30

10

18

1.80

20

41

2.05

15

Ukraine

10

20

2.00

10

20

2.00

20

40

2.00

16

Russia

8

17

2.125

10

19

1.90

18

36

2.00

17

England

8

19

2.375

8

13

1.625

16

32

2.00

18

Turkey

8

14

1.75

8

17

2.125

16

31

1.937

19

Denmark

8

17

2.125

8

14

1.75

16

31

1.937

20

Republic of Ireland

10

18

1.80

8

16

2.00

18

34

1.888

21

Croatia

8

15

1.875

8

15

1.875

16

30

1.875

22

Slovakia

10

16

1.60

10

17

1.70

20

33

1.65

23

Israel

8

13

1.625

8

13

1.625

16

26

1.625

24

Bulgaria

8

18

2.25

8

8

1.00

16

26

1.625

25

Greece

8

14

1.75

10

15

1.50

18

29

1.611

26

Switzerland

8

10

1.25

8

14

1.75

16

24

1.50

27

Poland

8

10

1.25

8

13

1.625

16

23

1.437

28

Lithuania

10

17

1.70

10

11

1.10

20

28

1.40

29

Cyprus

8

10

1.25

8

12

1.50

16

22

1.375

30

Hungary

8

12

1.50

10

12

1.20

18

24

1.333

31

Finland

8

11

1.375

8

10

1.25

16

21

1.312

32

Iceland

10

9

0.90

10

15

1.50

20

24

1.20

33

FYR Macedonia

10

13

1.30

8

8

1.00

18

21

1.166

34

Latvia

10

10

1.00

10

13

1.30

20

23

1.15

35

Bosnia-Herzegovina

8

9

1.125

10

11

1.10

18

20

1.111

36

Slovenia

8

1

0.125

10

17

1.70

18

18

1.00

37

Wales

8

7

0.875

8

9

1.125

16

16

1.00

38

Georgia

8

10

1.25

10

5

0.50

18

15

0.833

39

Armenia

10

8

0.80

10

8

0.80

20

16

0.80

40

Estonia

10

4

0.40

10

11

1.10

20

15

0.75

41

Northern Ireland

10

7

0.70

8

5

0.625

18

12

0.666

42

Albania

10

4

0.40

10

7

0.70

20

11

0.55

43

Faroe Islands

10

6

0.60

10

3

0.30

20

9

0.45

44

Azerbaijan

8

3

0.375

10

4

0.40

18

7

0.388

45

Belarus

10

4

0.40

8

3

0.375

18

7

0.388

46

Moldova

8

0

0.00

8

4

0.50

16

4

0.25

47

Liechtenstein

10

0

0.00

10

4

0.40

20

4

0.20

48

Luxembourg

8

0

0.00

8

0

0.00

16

0

0.00

49

Malta

10

0

0.00

8

0

0.00

18

0

0.00

50

San Marino

8

0

0.00

8

0

0.00

16

0

0.00

51

Andorra

-

-

-

10

0

0.00

10

0

0.00

Notes

On November 18, 1999 UEFA published a European national team ranking table based on coefficients or points per match averages calculated from the qualifying results in World Cup 1998 and European Championship 2000, excluding the playoffs.  Since France, as host nation, did not take part in qualifying for World Cup 1998, their points average was calculated solely on the basis of qualifying results for European Championship 2000.  And since Belgium and Holland, as host nations, did not participate in qualifying for the European Championship 2000, their coefficients were determined on the basis of their World Cup 1998 qualifying results alone.  

England were ranked 17th in Europe.  In FIFA's world ranking released a day earlier, England were placed 11th, behind only seven European teams (France, the Czech Republic, Spain, Germany, Croatia, Norway and Romania) rather than behind 16 as in the UEFA ranking.  This discrepancy resulted from the differences in the bases the two organizations use for their rankings, one of which is that the FIFA ranking takes account of all results, not just qualification results in the major competitions.

The reasoning behind UEFA's use of qualification results alone apparently is that they serve as the best basis for a comparative ranking since all nations but the host country and, in the case of the World Cup, the reigning champion participate in qualification group play for the major competitions and because the qualification groups are roughly equivalent in the difficulty of the competition they provide.  For an explanation of the UEFA ranking system, see England's UEFA European Ranking 1997.

England's sharp drop from the 4th place position they held in UEFA's 1997 ranking to 17th two years later is attributable solely to a poor performance in the Euro 2000 qualifying competition.  The 1997 ranking was based on qualifying results in the 1996 European Championship and the 1998 World Cup,  and, since England, as host nation, did not participate in the 1996 European Championship qualifying competition, their 4th place spot in the 1997 ranking was based solely on their 1998 World Cup qualification results.  Those 1998 World Cup qualification results produced a points per match average of 2.375, which, standing alone, would have been good enough to put them even with Holland at 5th place in the 1999 ranking.  But the 1999 ranking also was based on results in the Euro 2000 qualifying competition, and England earned a points average of only 1.625 there, which reduced their overall points per match average for the 1999 ranking to 2.000, dropping them to 17th place. 

With a slight modification--the exclusion of 12th-ranked France because they qualified automatically for the World Cup 2002 final competition as reigning champion--FIFA used the UEFA ranking table to seed the other 50 European teams for the 2002 World Cup preliminary competition draw, held in Tokyo, Japan on December 7, 1999.  That draw determined the composition of the nine European groups in the World Cup 2002 qualifying competition.  With France excluded, England were seeded 16th among European nations, which put them well down in the second tier of nations for the draw.  

UEFA used the same ranking table to make Spain, ranked 1st, one of the four top-seeded teams in the 2000 European Championship final tournament draw held December 12, 1999 in Ghent, Belgium.  That draw assigned the 16 participating teams to four groups for first round play in the finals.   The ranking table played no part in selection of the three other top-seeded teams.  Germany were seeded top as reigning European champions and Holland and Belgium as the host nations, although none of them were among the top four nations in the ranking.  Just two days before the draw, UEFA decided it would also use the ranking table to seed the other 12 qualifying teams into three tiers of four teams each.  The four top seeds were assigned to the four groups, and each of the other three tiers of teams were placed in a separate pot for the draw.  England were placed in the bottom group of four because only Turkey, Denmark and Slovenia ranked lower among the nations that qualified for the finals.

PY