Why twelve? Well, because it's hard to see who else, right now, would be able to get sustained results against all these twelve. Anyone else from Europe? Switzerland are maybe the best of the rest right now. Mexico or the USA? Not really, and their position in the FIFA rankings is always overestimated. Morocco or Japan from Africa and Asia? Their current results are not terrible, actually, but we would need more data. 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 the day after the 2026 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: 22
All teams are on Games Played: 22
Position - Points + Goal difference - Team
01 - 45+17 Spain
02 - 38+05 England
03 - 37+03 France
04 - 36+05 Brazil
05 - 35+07 Argentina
06 - 33+08 Germany
07 - 30+09 Netherlands
08 - 25-06 Portugal
09 - 22-08 Croatia
10 - 22-15 Belgium
11 - 19-10 Italy
12 - 17-15 Uruguay
So, this is what a World League, group A1 could look like. I will update this regularly.
