Little-known FIFA rule change could impact England after two countries benefit

FIFA have made a change to how league tables are determined at the World Cup in a move which could impact England, while two nations have already benefited from the alteration.

As the World Cup progresses to the second round of fixtures, teams are beginning to progress to the knockout rounds, while others have already been eliminated.

On June 19, Mauricio Pochettino’s USA put in a fine performance against Australia in Seattle, with the co-hosts running out 2-0 winners courtesy of Cameron Burgess’ own goal and Alex Freeman’s header, which secured the side’s spot in the round of 32 despite having a Group D match against Turkey still to play.

Meanwhile, Turkey were eliminated from the tournament after losing 1-0 to Paraguay, who played the entire second half with 10 men after Miguel Amorim was sent off for covering his mouth in San Francisco.

Haiti were also eliminated after their 3-0 loss to Brazil in Philadelphia.

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Haiti and Turkey are both three points behind the third-placed teams in their respective groups, but are unable to catch them due to a little-known FIFA rule change.

Previously, FIFA used overall goal difference as the deciding factor if teams were level on points, but ahead of the current tournament, the organisation decided to use head-to-head records instead.

As a result, due to Turkey losing both of their matches against Paraguay and Australia, even if they manage to beat the USA in their final group match and draw level on points with either Paraguay or Australia, they will still exit the competition in line with the updated rule.

The same scenario applies to Haiti, who face Morocco. The minnows have already been beaten by Brazil and Scotland, so even if they draw level on points with Steve Clarke’s men, they will still go out.

England may benefit from the rule change if they beat Ghana on June 23. If Thomas Tuchel’s side win and their Group L opponents, Panama, fail to beat Croatia, they will be crowned group winners with a game to spare.

The same applies to Ghana, who can become group winners if they beat England and Croatia do not beat Panama.

Mexico, like fellow co-hosts the USA, have also benefited from the rule and will progress to the round of 32 after beating South Africa and South Korea in their first two matches.

FIFA used goal ratio until 1966 before switching to the goal difference system in 1970. UEFA have already implemented the head-to-head system in its competitions, such as the Champions League.

The reason for the change relates to removing the impact of outliers such as Germany’s 7-1 win over Curaçao, which would’ve put the Europeans in an advantageous position in terms of goal difference.

What are the other tiebreaks?

If teams are level on points after three group games, then FIFA uses a number of tiebreakers to separate them.

Top of the list is head-to-head points between the teams involved, effectively creating a mini-league by removing the result against the fourth team.

If this does not separate teams, then head-to-head goal difference is used before head-to-head goals scored may come into play.

And in the unlikely scenario that all of this is the same, group goal difference, group goals scored, fair play and FIFA World Ranking could also be the deciding factor between elimination and progression.