We determine national men's football teams rankings from the matches played.

The results of the official and friendly matches are used to calculate the results of the missing matches, for example:

    Team A 1-0 Team B
    Team A 3-0 Team C
    We get Team B 2-0 Team C

To determine these results, the following rules are applied:

Venue

A calculation on all matches played demonstrates than the advantage of receiving is 0.67 goal, so an adjustement is made to the benefit of the visiting team.

Matches

The results retained are those after possible extra time and, to limit the influence of high scores, the goal difference is capped at 5 (a score of 7-0 is worth as much a 6-0).

Competition and date of the match

To give more weight to the official matches (FIFA competitions and continental federations competitions) and to the most recent matches, a bonus is granted to the winning teams.

These rules guarantee the fairness of the results, each matche influences the ranking and the value of the opponent is naturally taken into account. 

Under the auspices of FIFA, the International Federation of Football Associations, continental confederations are:

    AFC - Asian Football Confederation
    CAF - African Football Confederation
    CONCACAF - Confederation of North America, Central America and Caribbean Association Football
    CONMEBOL - South American Football Confederation
    OFC - Oceania Football Confederation
    UEFA - Union of European Football Associations



The major competitions organized by FIFA and these confederations are:

    FIFA World Cup (since 1930)
    FIFA Confederations Cup (since 1997) - King Fahd Cup (1992-1995)
    AFC Asian Cup (since 1956)
    CAF Africa Cup of Nations (since 1957)
    CONCACAF Gold Cup (since 1991) - Championship (1963-1989)
    CONMEBOL Copa America (since 1975) - South American Championship (1916-1967)
    OFC Nations Cup (since 1996) - Oceania Cup (1973-1980)
    UEFA Euro (since 1968) - European Nations' Cup (1960-1964)

Other competitions have been proposed:

    OFC Melanesia Cup (1988-2000)
    OFC Polynesia Cup (1994-2000)

The CAF African Nations Championship is not selected, only players playing on African territory participate.

Some confederations are composed of regional federations:

         AFC - Asian Football Confederation
    
            AFF - Association of South East Asian Nations
            CAFF - Central Asian Football Federation
            EAFF - East Asian Football Federation
            SAFF - South Asian Football Federation
            WAFF - West Asian Football Federation

         CAF - African Football Confederation

            CECAFA - Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations
            COSAFA - Council of Southern Africa Football Associations
            WAFU - West African Football Union
            UNAF - Union of North African Football Federations
            UNIFFAC - Central African Football Federations Union
            UFFOI - Union of Football Federations of the Indian Ocean 

        Some Arab countries in Africa and Asia are also members of the UAFA (Union of Arab Football Associations).

        CONCACAF - Football Confederation of North America, Central America and the Caribbean

            NAFU - North American Football Union
            UNCAF - Central American Football Union
            CFU - Caribbean Football Union

        For these sub-confederations, the main competitions are:

            AFF Championship (since 1996)
            CFU Carribbean Cup (since 1989) - Championship (1978-1988)
            CECAFA Cup (since 1973) - Challenge Cup (1967-1971) - Gossage Cup (1926-1966)
            COSAFA Cup (since 1997)
            EAFF East Asian Cup (since 2013) - East Asian Championship (2003-2010) - Dynasty Cup (1990-1998)
            SAFF Championship (since 2008) - Gold Cup (1993-2005)
            UAFA Arab Nations Cup (since 1963)
            UNCAF Copa Centroamericana (since 2011) - Nations Cup (1991-2009)
            WAFF Championship (since 2000)

        A tournament is also organized by the Arab nations of the Persian Gulf:

            Arabian Gulf Cup (since 1970)