IT’S as easy as P = M x I x T x C.
That’s if you’re attempting to climb Fifa’s World Rankings, in which Wales have now moved above England for the first time.
Wales, who were 117th four years ago, now sit one place above Roy Hodgson’s side in ninth.
But what does a world ranking, in any sport, mean?
In team sports, where nations could meet only once every four years at a major global tournament, it is harder to gauge who is ‘better’ than in golf or tennis, for example.
For Fifa, the formula above is used and takes into account the match result, its importance, how strong the opposing team was and the strength of the confederation.
In golf, a player’s world ranking is obtained by dividing their points total by the number of events they have played in a certain time frame to get their average.
Value is added to major events and who was competing.
Golfers performing consistently well tend to be the most talented, and this is reflected in the rankings with the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth continuously placing high.
Though, on a sporting level, the very top players gain little from their ranking, the result appears linear, more recognisable.
The same can be said for tennis’ ATP Rankings.
However in tennis, a player’s world ranking will determine their seeding at a tournament, putting a far greater importance on where they sit compared to their peers.
Rodger Federer has held the number one spot for a total of 302 weeks.
While a nation’s world ranking in football can affect their placing for qualifying groups, making the top 10 or 20 is not going to automatically qualify a country for a World Cup or European Championships.
And Fifa’s calculation seems to regularly spit out some bizarre results.
Germany only claimed the World Cup crown last summer, but have dropped below finalists Argentina and Belgium to third in the rankings.
Meanwhile, Romania, ranked seventh, are deemed a better side than England, Spain and the Netherlands and if you’re France (24), well, you’re just about edging out Albania.
As for Cape Verde Islands, they’ll be the favourites should they meet Korea, Japan, Australia or Serbia.
Who is the only male tennis player to make it to number one, but never win a Grand Slam singles tournament in their career?
Last week I asked you who the cumulatively most expensive footballer in the world was.
The answer is current PSG man Angel Di Maria (£132.6m), from Zlatan Ibrahimovic (£126.7m), James Rodriguez (£116.7m) and Nicolas Anelka (£114.7m).
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