At the end of the year, FIFA released a new ranking with Brazil at the top and Morocco as the country with the most points of the year. Fifa.com takes a look at some interesting stats from this year's rankings:
1- Brazil at the top of the FIFA Ranking in 2022. Brazil regained the top spot in March for the first time in five years. Brazil has played 13 matches this year, with 10 wins, one draw and two defeats, two of which came in Qatar.
2.39- Brazil is just 2.39 points ahead of Argentina in second place. In fact, if Argentina had won the World Cup final against France for 90 or 120 minutes instead of a penalty shootout, they would have topped the table.
4- Four teams have reached their highest ranking ever this year: Senegal (18th in February), Canada (33rd in February), Kosovo (106th in June) and Comoros (126th in June).
7- From December 2021 to December 2022, seven teams moved up 10 places or more in the rankings: Gambia (126, up 24), Morocco (11, up 17), Costa Rica (32, up 17), Cameroon (33, up 17), Equatorial Guinea (98, up 17), Indonesia (151st, up 13) and Cuba (168th, up 11).
24- Senegal have played a total of 24 matches in 2022, a football record for the year. Senegal (22), Morocco (21) and Ghana (21) are participating in two major tournaments this year, the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup, so they have played more games.
24- UEFA had 24 members in the FIFA top 50 in December, two fewer than in December last year. African football associations have three more representatives in the top 50 than last year, and they are in second place. Next up are the South American Confederation (eight teams, the same as last year), the Asian Football Confederation (five, the same as last year), the ConcACAF (three, one fewer) and Oceania Football Confederation (no teams in the top 50).
41.5- Cameroon beat Brazil at the World Cup to score 41.5 points, the most by a team in a single match this year. Cameroon were followed by Saudi Arabia, who scored 39.2 points against eventual World Cup winners Argentina.
142.42- Morocco scored 142.42 points this year, a record number for any FIFA member this year.
939- A total of 939 matches were played under FIFA's umbrella in 2022, 183 fewer than last year's record 1,122. However, 586 more matches will be played this year than in 2020, when the game was severely affected by the pandemic.
5006- Brazil has spent 5,006 days at the top of the FIFA rankings, a record, until 30 December 2022. Now Brazil is top again, and the record is set to continue.