Fans of another sport may read the obituaries to retired Eden Hazard this week and wonder why what appears to be his most notable achievement was omitted.
There were mentions of great goals, league titles and player of the year awards, but little about the man who led Belgium to the top of the world.
Hazard was the country’s captain from 2015 to 2022. And towards the end of that period, from October 2018 to February 2022, Belgium topped the FIFA world rankings for more than three years.
Not only are Belgium ranked number one, but their long-standing top spot – which has been extended in the interest of fairness due to fewer international matches due to the coronavirus pandemic – This means that only Brazil and Spain were the top countries for longer periods of time. Since the ranking was introduced in 1992.
For example, for fans of tennis, golf, or snooker, being ranked number one in the world is a big deal.
Belgium’s rankings weren’t all about Hazard, and the concept of a captain doesn’t really mean much in soccer. But the practical reason why no one has mentioned Belgium’s status as world number one is much simpler: no one in soccer cares about rankings.
And this is something to be celebrated.
Why do they exist?
Let’s start with the basics — why do we need FIFA rankings?
Now, before rankings were introduced, the World Cup seeding system was a bit of a farce. For most tournaments up to the 1970 World Cup, FIFA determined the seeded teams.
In 1970, there were no official seeds, and FIFA formed four teams based on teams they did not want to play (notably Israel and Morocco).
For the 1974 World Cup, a secret vote was held to determine which team would be seeded. For the next few tournaments, the organizing committee at least made its sessions public.
It was only after 1990 that actual empirical results, i.e. performances in recent World Cups, were taken into account. However, this would effectively discriminate against emerging countries, so starting in 1998 (in 1994 the rankings were considered too new to be of much use), FIFA used official rankings to select seeds. can now be taken into account.
So, while the exact ranking system remains a mystery to even the most avid soccer fan, it’s worth reiterating that the FIFA rankings do serve a purpose. If FIFA executives were to decide seeding themselves, it would be worthwhile to have an official ranking.
Why does no one really care?
Well, the problem with soccer is that the national team only plays 12 games a year. Some of them are matches between the world’s best and small fry, and others are non-competitive matches, so there isn’t much information to consider in the rankings.
The exact algorithm used to calculate the rankings was criticized and has since been revised several times. In 1999, 2006 and most notably in 2018, there were complaints that various teams, most notably Switzerland and Poland, were trying to take advantage of the system by limiting the number of friendlies. they played.
This is different from sports like tennis or golf, where the world’s best players regularly participate in the same tournaments and compete directly. There, it becomes much easier to develop a fair ranking system.
Why is this good?
This is good, as there is no tension between tournament results and world rankings, as is often the case in other sports.
In April 2009, Dinara Safina caused controversy by becoming the number one ranked tennis player despite having never won a Grand Slam tournament.
“Being number one in the rankings is a great honor and a dream shared by every girl who has ever wanted to play professional tennis,” Safina said.
First, you wonder if it’s a) true and b) desirable. Should players grow up dreaming of being number one rather than winning something? Interestingly, Carlos Alcaraz did the same thing last year, even though he was a Grand Slam champion. did. “It’s a dream come true to be number one in the world,” he said.
Safina’s ranking sparked a backlash from Serena Williams, who had won the previous two Grand Slam titles when Safina first became No. 1. After winning Wimbledon in July 2009, Williams was asked about his level of motivation to regain the top spot.
“If you win three Grand Slam titles (in a year), you should be No. 1, but on the WTA Tour (that’s not the case),” she said. “But I guess my motivation is to win another Grand Slam and stay in second place.
“Dinara did a great job to get first place. She won in (less prestigious) Rome and Madrid,” she continued, before bursting into laughter. It was somewhere between the ranking system’s bargain and Safina’s bargain.
Apparently that affected Safina, who was constantly asked when she would win a Grand Slam. She never did.
“I felt stupid saying I was number one in the world,” Safina confessed years later.
In 2011, snooker Ronnie O’Sullivan complained that he felt “intimidated” to play in smaller tournaments because of the ranking points on offer. “They hold these ranking events, but the prize money for the winners is not that high,” he complained.
“Most players go there and lose money, but they put ranking points on them so they force players to play there. It’s not great, but what do you do? Do you want to? You have to go.”
At that point, O’Sullivan was ranked 12th in the world. He won the next two world championships, but did not reach number one in the rankings during that period due to poor performance and absences from less prestigious tournaments.
In golf, two British golfers, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, are number one in the golf rankings without winning a major. However, tennis is still a superior sport by comparison, and it seems like a step too far for a player to receive a trophy for being ranked No. 1 in the world, especially now.
Interestingly, Andy Murray once said that he received more messages of congratulations from his fellow players the first time he topped the rankings than after winning a tournament. This suggests that professional tennis players perceive rankings, which measure consistency over the year, to be more or less like league tables (to use soccer terminology), and Grand Slams to be more like cup competitions. are doing.
Tennis introduced ranking points in 1973. The reasons were essentially the same as those introduced by soccer decades later. The idea was to create objective entry criteria for tournaments, rather than leaving it solely in the hands of the organizers of each tournament. But over time, it has become a competition in itself.
But success in sports should not be judged by algorithms or complex ranking points aggregated in minor events at the expense of success on the biggest stage. Who wins majors, slams, and world championships should be decided on the pitch, not on a spreadsheet.
And in the world of football there are no tensions and even the most remote discussions about this. Rankings serve that purpose. They measure long-term progress and help determine seeding, but ranking first in and of itself is not what you should aim for.
And that’s exactly how it should be.
(Top photo: VI Images via Getty Images)