In exactly 30 days, the 21st edition of the Fifa World Cup will start in Russia. The Finals which is the 64th game played, will determine the winner. Who do you think will win the title this time around? Will it be the best team? Which team is the best? Which team is the worst? Independently to our beloved country or favorite team, the official reference to answer these questions is Fifa’s world ranking. Each country is ranked according to Fifa’s point systems. This post is about how points are calculated for a given team. A country is credited a certain amount of points each time it plays a game. Depending on the type of game (friendly, qualification, test, or tournament), the strength of the adversary, the confederation from which it comes from, and of course whether you lose, win or draw the attributed points is calculated according to the following Formula: P = M x I x T x C x 100 P: Points. gained for a played game. M: Match The factor for rating the result of the match played. Winner: 3 Winner after Penalties: 2 Draw: 1 Loser after Penalties: 1 Loser: 0 I: Importance. The factor for rating the importance of the match played. Friendly: 1.0 Qualifier: 2.5 Tournament game: 2.5 World Cup Final: 4 Finals of other tournaments: 3 T: Team. How good is the team against which you play. In other words: the strength of the team against which you play T = 200 – ( current ranking of adversary) / 100 For very weak teams i.e. for team with a ranking lower than 150 you use the factor 0.5 Logically, the higher the ranking of the team against which you play the higher the factor is. C: Confederation. The average built from the Confederation strength of both teams. Currently theses factors are as follows: Confederation|Factor ---------|------------ CONMEBOL |1,00 UEFA | 0,99 CONCACAF|0,85 CAF|0,85 AFC|0,85 OFC|0,85 To calculate the total ranking, the last 4 years are taken into consideration. However each year has a different weight. Year | weight ------|------------ Year 0 (Current Year) | 100% Year 1: (Last Year) | 50% Year 2: (Past 2 Years) | 50% Year 3: (Past 3 Years) | 50% Is the Fifa ranking important? What’s the use of all this calculation, these factors, weighing, and so on? One of the most important use of the Fifa ranking is for seeding the finals and qualification of the world cup. I mean who already wants to play against Germany, Brazil, Spain or Argentina in the Group phase? Nobody! Most teams wish to avoid them in the early phase and play against them as late as possible in tournament. Of course I haven't calculate the rankings myself. The source is [Fifa](http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/index.html) Now here you go! Here is the Fifa ranking of the all countries qualified for the Fifa World Cup 2018: ![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYXKtLVJNoVZktLJackJjjQwssMKQhWNdYgd9xPpjyAFn/grafik.png) So according to the Fifa ranking Germany is currently the best Team in World followed by Brazil. Do you agree? Which of the 10 lowest ranked teams will go the furthest during this tournament? How far will that underdog go? Which of top 10 teams will not make through the group phase? Are these questions a piece of cake for you? Are you already in World Cup fever? Are you looking for an interesting world cup 2018 contest in which you can compete against other contestants and be rewarded for your skills? Then you should absolutely check out @fullcoverbetting’s SBC World Cup Contest. There prize pool is growing and will be more than 35 SBD! Don’t miss it! [Check it out right here](https://steemit.com/sbc/@fullcoverbetting/fullcoverbetting-s-worldcup-contest-registration-is-open) ! Furthermore, are you a Tipster, bettor or just blogging about sports in general? Then you should definitely get involved in SBC: the Steemit Betting Community. Read @costanza recent post outlining the [Mission Statement](https://steemit.com/steemit/@costanza/steemit-betting-community-or-mission-statement). A big shout out to those who grabbed the initiative to get this community started, sponsoring and delegating it with Steem, SBD and Steem Power in order for the SBC to get a strong heads up! Especially: @costanza: called the “Brain” by @fullcoverbetting. He has the big picture in mind. @beat-the-bookies: called “our wiz kid” by @fullcoverbetting @stimp1024: He has delegated 1000 SP to the community and has sponsored the contest very generously. @crypto2crypto who recently delegated 150 SP to the SBC. And of course to all of you in the community creating content on regular basis! Just to mention some names (please no offense if your name isn’t mentioned): @abh12345 @aceled @djoker @fullcoverbetting @numpypython @ukfootball etc. Thanks Guys! So come and join the [SBC](https://steemit.com/@sbcbot) ! And join the [@fullcoverbetting’s SBC World Cup Contest](https://steemit.com/sbc/@fullcoverbetting/fullcoverbetting-s-worldcup-contest-registration-is-open) !