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Giovanni Trapattoni: down one spot. INPHO/Donall Farmer

You do the maths: Ireland drop a place in FIFA rankings despite qualification

Gary Speed’s Wales side are confirmed as the year’s biggest climbers as they reach the top 50 in latest world rankings.

IRELAND ARE DOWN one place to 22nd in the latest FIFA world rankings, despite their recent qualification for Euro2012.

Spain – Ireland’s group rivals next summer – remain in top spot while Giovanni Trapattoni’s side will also face two other members of the top 10; Croatia and Italy are eighth and ninth respectively.

Holland remain in second while Ireland’s World Cup 2014 qualification opponents Germany are third.

Poignantly, it’s also now clear that the Wales team managed by the late Gary Speed were the year’s biggest climbers, having moved into the top 50.

They rose from 116th to finish the year in 48th place under Speed’s stewardship. Speed died last month at the age of 42.

England finished the year in fifth place while Northern Ireland are up one spot to 88th.

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    Mute andy kavanagh
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    Dec 21st 2011, 12:51 PM

    Of course our ranking matters when the seedings are been done for tournament qualification, it will have no impact on the players just the quality of our opposition.

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    Mute Silent P
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    Dec 21st 2011, 12:42 PM

    It will rise nicely when we beat Italy to qualify for quarter finals next June.

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    Mute Brendan Moore
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    Dec 21st 2011, 1:47 PM

    Love football. Hate FIFA.

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    Mute Peter Laurent
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    Dec 21st 2011, 2:27 PM

    Agreed il join that revolution

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    Mute Eamonn Clancy
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    Dec 21st 2011, 12:20 PM

    So what? Who cares what our ranking is?

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    Mute Mensah Mensah
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    Dec 21st 2011, 1:15 PM

    Dat FIFA is pure joke….football lovers dont care abt this ranking…..

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    Mute Chris Coffey
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    Dec 21st 2011, 6:38 PM

    I bet nobody would be saying “who cares” if Ireland jumped to number 9 or something.

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    Mute smithan_irl
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    Dec 21st 2011, 7:54 PM

    We need to improve our ranking as it determines what seed we are in qualifiers.

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    Mute slippers
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    Dec 21st 2011, 12:36 PM

    our ranking is irrelevant, de main thing is we do de business come de summer

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    Mute Eagle eye
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    Dec 21st 2011, 2:11 PM

    Yes it was Gary speed’s wales side when wales made their massive jump in the rankings. Perhaps they could say the late gary speeds side though

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    Mute Begrudgy
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    Dec 21st 2011, 1:57 PM

    England 5th. 5th…..5th……ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

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    Mute Begrudgy
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    Dec 21st 2011, 1:53 PM

    ‘Gary speeds wales side’ . Ahhhhh … hello. Hmmmm.

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    Mute Andrew Payne
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    Dec 21st 2011, 2:57 PM

    Could be wrong here but I think there may have been a rankings between our first and second legs against Estonia and if so our only game during the period has been a draw against a team ranked below us.

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    Mute John Woods
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    Dec 21st 2011, 3:48 PM

    That’s a UEFA coefficient you are thinking of. That was out a few weeks ago to provisionally decide the seeds.

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    Mute EM
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    Dec 22nd 2011, 9:44 AM

    FIFA ranking is flawed anyway; it’s nothing more than a general indicator.

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