TWO DIFFERENT FORMULAS make up the Emlyn Hughes International Soccer World Rankings. The reason we have two tables to do one job is based on historical reasons: we simply could not agree on what to which type to implement, and as both of them have their advantages and disadvantages, we decided that there was no real reason to choose one over the other.

EARLY TIMES is an Elo based formula (Elo based rankings systems are commonly used for example in chess, tennis and golf), and is updated after each match. It measures the players' individual skills relative to one another.

The basic idea is that after a match has been played, the winning player receives some rankings points from the player who lost. The actual amount of points received is relative to the points-difference between the two players. If you are much higher ranked than your opponent, you will receive only a few points. If, however, you beat someone with hundreds of points more than what you have, the number of points you get is much higher.

In the case of draws, the lower-ranked player receives points from the higher-ranked one. The actual amount is again determined by the rankings difference between the two.

WE ARE STILL working on implementing the Match Magazine World Rankings. It is based on the formula that FIFA uses to calculate the FIFA World Rankings, but has gone through some heavy changes to make it more suitable for our needs.