Why have the rankings of certain teams been combined?
The rankings for Germany and West Germany, Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia, Northern Ireland and Ireland, Russia and USSR, and Serbia and Yugoslavia have been combined because historically these countries have played international football under different names, and are recognised as doing so by FIFA. East Germany never won the UFWC title, so have no ranking points to combine with a united Germany. In 1993 Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, however Slovakia have never won the UFWC title. The international football team known until 1920 as Ireland represented Northern Ireland rather than the Republic of Ireland. The USSR split into several nations, but FIFA class Russia as a continuation of the USSR for records purposes.
