The Norway men’s national football team move up five places in the FIFA rankings after strong results in the Nations League. This is the highest position in seven years.
Norway climbed to 36th place classification on the best national teams in the world. We have to go back to 2015, the last time the national team was so high up. They were then in 34th place.
It is the good results in the Nations League (10 points out of 12 against Sweden x2, Slovenia and Serbia) that make the Norwegian national team overtake Canada, Hungary, Cameroon, Egypt and Scotland .
A total of 24 teams will participate in the European Championship, which will be held in Germany in the summer of 2024. Germany has qualified as the host country, so there are 23 places left.
No less than 20 of these are awarded through the ordinary CE qualification.
- The qualification is divided into ten groups, the two best of each of them go to the EC.
- The group draw will take place on October 9 in Frankfurt, a month after the end of the Nations League group stage.
The draw for the EC qualification will take place on October 9th. Norway’s ranking depends on the Nations League ranking, and right now Norway is close to a dream ranking.
The national team is likely to end up in the second-highest tier, and therefore can get away with only one major nation as a contender. By comparison, Sweden will most likely find themselves in tier three after their weak summer in the Nations League.
The last time the men’s national football team qualified for a championship – EC 2000 – Norway were the number one seed. In all subsequent European Championship qualifiers, Norway have been seeded in the third tier.
– Winning the Nations League group pays off big. This means a lot for the EC ranking and draw. Moreover, it gives an extra chance to qualify for the EC, says Truls Dæhli, acting NFF elite director.
Twice Norway have held second place in the FIFA rankings. First in October 1993 and later in July 1995. The weakest position was in 2017, when Norway was ranked 88th.
Brazil retain their place as the best national team in the world. Argentina, winners of the Copa América, move up one place compared to the previous classification, having also climbed one place after the championship. They are in 3rd place. Italy, European champion, goes from 6th to 7th place.
Top 10 nations:
1) Brazil 1837.56, 2) Belgium 1821.92, 3) Argentina 1770.65, 4) France 1764.85, 5) England 1737.46, 6) Spain 1716.93, 7) Italy 1713.86, 8) Netherlands 1679.41, 9) Portugal 1678.65, 10) Denmark 16.4
Correction: VG first stated that the weakest position was 83rd place in 2016. This is not correct – the weakest position was in 2017 at 88th place. The error was corrected on 06/23/2022 at 15:44.
