It was worse…
DFB team staggers through the world rankings
06/29/2023, 2:25 p.m
The mood around the German national soccer team is bad a year before the start of the home European Championship in 2024, as are the results. This is also reflected in the world rankings.
After the disappointing results of the past few weeks, the German national soccer team has lost another place in the FIFA world rankings. The team of national coach Hansi Flick is currently in 15th place, according to the ranking published by the world association. Until the home European Championship 2024 (June 14 to July 14), the DFB team will not have to play any more competitive games that have a major impact on the rankings. Germany recently disappointed in three friendlies against Ukraine (3-3), Poland (0-1) and Colombia (0-2) in mid-June.
In 2014, the German national team topped the rankings introduced in 1993 for the first time in 20 years by winning the world championship. After all: Even if the mood around the DFB team is extremely bad after the disappointing test match triple, the 15th place in the world rankings does not mean the low point: In November 2018, the year when Germany as the reigning world champion for the first time in the history of the association A World Cup was eliminated in the preliminary round, the team of the then national coach Joachim Löw was listed in 16th place.
Historic low under Klinsmann
It was even worse in 2004: the preliminary round under Rudi Völler at the European Championship caused the DFB to fall to 19th place. However, the historical low point was reached under Jürgen Klinsmann: Before the 2006 World Cup, which surprisingly became the German “summer fairy tale”, the DFB team was listed in 22nd place. Despite the distance to the top, a negative record is not in sight: Among the former first in the world rankings, another major football nation later slipped further than all the others: The Netherlands were only 32nd in April 2017. Small consolation.
The poor placement does not have any direct consequences for national coach Hansi Flick and his team: there is still some time to limit the damage before the qualifying groups, for which the world rankings are used, are drawn. At the 2022 World Cup, Germany ended up in pot 2 as eleventh in the world rankings. At the EM 2024, for which the preliminary round groups will be drawn in October, the DFB team will be drawn from pot 1 as hosts anyway.
Meanwhile, world champions Argentina continue to lead the rankings. The team led by captain Lionel Messi is ahead of World Cup runners-up France and Brazil. They are followed by England and Belgium. The two countries swapped places compared to the last ranking from April. From the DFB point of view, things are looking much better for women: a few days before the start of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the team of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg is in second place in the world rankings.