Group of Death Calculation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Posted on December 5, 2009 by | 2 Comments

Now that the 2010 FIFA World Cup groups have been determined, everyone has been discussing which group, if any, should be labeled the ‘Group of Death’.

Below I have determined this group based on the November 20th rankings of each participant. In keeping with casual observation, group G is the toughest and group F is the easiest. The rankings data have been sourced from FIFA.com.

Means and Medians using Raw FIFA World Rankings

 
The “Mean (top 3)” figures represent the average rankings of the highest three ranked teams in each group.
 

Group  |  A      |  B      |  C      |  D  |     |
   |  South Africa  |   86  |  Argentina  |   8  |  England  |   9  |  Germany  |   6  |
   |  Mexico  |   15  |  Nigeria  |   22  |  USA  |   14  |  Australia  |   21  |
   |  Uruguay  |   19  |  South Korea  |   52  |  Algeria  |   28  |  Serbia  |   20  |
   |  France  |   7  |  Greece  |   12  |  Slovenia  |   33  |  Ghana  |   37  |
Median (all)  |       17  |       17  |       21  |       21  |
Mean (all)  |       32  |       24  |       21  |       21  |
Mean (top 3)  |       14  |       14  |       17  |       16  |

 

Group  |  E      |  F      |  G      |  H  |     |
   |  Netherlands  |   3  |  Italy  |   4  |  Brazil  |   2  |  Spain  |   1  |
   |  Denmark  |   26  |  Paraguay  |   30  |  N. Korea  |   84  |  Switzerland  |   18  |
   |  Japan  |   43  |  NZ  |   77  |  Ivory Coast  |   16  |  Honduras  |   38  |
   |  Cameroon  |   11  |  Slovakia  |   34  |  Portugal  |   5  |  Chile  |   17  |
Median (all)  |       19  |       32  |       11  |       18  |
Mean (all)  |       21  |       36  |       27  |       19  |
Mean (top 3)  |       13  |       23  |       8  |       12  |

 

Means and Medians using World Cup Rankings

 
The figures below show each team’s ranking amongst fellow World Cup competitors. For example, South Africa is the lowest ranked team in the tournament so it has a ranking of 32.
 

Group  |  A      |  B      |  C      |  D  |     |
   |  South Africa  |   32  |  Argentina  |   8  |  England  |   9  |  Germany  |   6  |
   |  Mexico  |   13  |  Nigeria  |   20  |  USA  |   12  |  Australia  |   19  |
   |  Uruguay  |   17  |  South Korea  |   29  |  Algeria  |   22  |  Serbia  |   18  |
   |  France  |   7  |  Greece  |   11  |  Slovenia  |   24  |  Ghana  |   26  |
Median (all)  |       15  |       16  |       17  |       19  |
Mean (all)  |       17  |       17  |       17  |       17  |
Mean (top 3)  |       12  |       13  |       14  |       14  |

 

Group  |  E      |  F      |  G      |  H  |     |
   |  Netherlands  |   3  |  Italy  |   4  |  Brazil  |   2  |  Spain  |   1  |
   |  Denmark  |   21  |  Paraguay  |   23  |  N. Korea  |   31  |  Switzerland  |   16  |
   |  Japan  |   28  |  NZ  |   30  |  Ivory Coast  |   14  |  Honduras  |   27  |
   |  Cameroon  |   10  |  Slovakia  |   25  |  Portugal  |   5  |  Chile  |   15  |
Median (all)  |       16  |       24  |       10  |       16  |
Mean (all)  |       16  |       21  |       13  |       15  |
Mean (top 3)  |       11  |       17  |       7  |       11  |

 
No matter which way you look at it, Group F is the group of life and Group G is the group of death. Note I haven’t provided decimal place figures because only rough inferences can be made using this data.

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