World League of Nations

After the European Nations League started in 2018, I thought that the tournament should be expanded to include the best teams from all over the world. However, this probably means, in strict terms, Western Europe and South America. To get the ball rolling, I have compiled the last two matches of the top 11 football international teams, and here is the resulting table.

Why eleven? Well, because it's hard to see who else, right now, would be able to get sustained results against all these eleven. Uruguay? Maybe a few years ago. Anyone else from Europe? Switzerland or Poland is maybe the best of the rest right now. Mexico? Not really. And no-one from the rest of the world is at this level. I hand-picked the teams according to a mixture of footballing tradition, current standing and staying power for generations. So, other international teams who come and go, like the Bulgaria or Romania of 1994, unless they prove themselves to be a team who consistently deliver for many years, will remain aside for now. According to FIFA, Norway were once number 2 in the world. In three separate months. The same applies to all the other teams in the world: when you beat Brazil, Germany, Italy or Argentina on a regular basis, we'll see about inclusion.

This is the current table, up to 19 December 2022, the day after the World Cup final. Matches that go to penalty shoot-outs count as a draw for both teams, regardless of who won it.

All teams are on Games Played: 20

W  D  L  F  A  P  GD

12 03 05 34 30 39+04 - 01 France

09 06 05 32 16 33+16 - 02 Netherlands

09 05 06 42 24 32+18 - 03 Spain

09 05 06 35 29 32+06 - 04 Argentina

08 05 04 28 22 32+06 - 05 Brazil

08 06 06 25 25 30+00 - 06 England

07 06 07 41 36 27+05 - 07 Germany

05 06 09 19 33 21-14 - 08 Croatia

04 08 08 20 32 20-12 - 09 Italy

04 07 09 15 25 19-10 - 10 Portugal

04 02 14 13 32 14-19 - 11 Belgium

France are clearly on top, six points ahead, with five other teams closely bunched up behind them. It is remarkable how low Italy are. Their European title win in 2021 masks many things indeed, among them how much they owe to draws, almost half of their games: they have only got four current wins in this table, two of them against Belgium. Spain, reputed to find it hard to score, have the most goals for and a massive +18 goal difference, courtesy mainly of two huge wins against Argentina (6-1) and Germany (6-0). Belgium, though, at the tail end of their golden generation, look in risk of falling way behind and of being removed from this simulation soon. Can anyone find another team in the world who would come last in this table?

So, this is what a World League, group A1 could look like. I will update this regularly.