Talk of Latvia on the NL thread has led me to wonder as to biggest falls down rankings (official or unofficial)* in the history of the international game. Netherlands obviously had a massive one when they failed to even make a play-off. Northern Ireland have sunk very low at various times since the Billy Bingham years. I'm not sure if England have ever been below Top 25 realistically even if the rankings say otherwise, although the Euro 2008 failure was perhaps an exception given they couldn't make a 16 team Euros. Scotland's fall took a while because they made playoffs in Euros 2000 and 2004.
Hungary's decline was largely due to the political destruction of their 50s team after the Soviet invasion, although they were still fairly useful in 1978 (but lost 4-1 to England in a friendly). Uruguay kept winning in South America when not doing well in World Cups.
*Has anyone ever calculated or estimated international team rankings for each era of the game? It's been done in cricket but that requires far less data, and all Tests have equal weight whereas in football you have to put asterisks against some friendlies that may have really involved reserve squads.
Hungary's decline was largely due to the political destruction of their 50s team after the Soviet invasion, although they were still fairly useful in 1978 (but lost 4-1 to England in a friendly). Uruguay kept winning in South America when not doing well in World Cups.
*Has anyone ever calculated or estimated international team rankings for each era of the game? It's been done in cricket but that requires far less data, and all Tests have equal weight whereas in football you have to put asterisks against some friendlies that may have really involved reserve squads.
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