It was recently announced that Brazil dropped 4 spots in the latest FIFA rankings to 14th place, it’s lowest ranking since the FIFA World Ranking system was introduced in 1992. Twenty years – that’s a long time – and what a coincidence Brazil is hitting such “poor form” right before they host the next major tournament of the sport in their home country.

Looking at the rankings alone, it’s easy to conclude Brazil have been playing poorly. Falling another two spots to your worst ranking in two decades? Normally fans would be calling for the manager’s head and players would be questioning the future and talent around them. This couldn’t be further from the truth. As Brazil prepares to host the World Cup they are thrashing minnows like China and Iraq, not to mention a victory over Argentina with squads compiled mainly of South American talent. They look like world beaters with stars such as Neymar, Thiago Silva, Marcelo, David Luiz, Oscar, Hulk… the list goes on smiling for Instagram photos and having a good time, as Brazilians tend to do.

Any fan of the sport who even remotely follows in the international scene knows that on paper Brazil is better than Greece and Croatia. Yet these two teams are ranked ahead (Greece 10th, Croatia 11th) of Brazil, who is doing all they can to hold off Switzerland (yes, Switzerland) to keep the spot of the 14th best team in the world.

So why exactly does the Brazil FIFA Ranking keep dropping? Let’s look at how FIFA calculates their rankings… (taken from their site, my comments in parenthesis)