The road to glory for the 32 teams taking part in this year’s FIFA World Cup tournament in Brazil depends a lot on how well they match up with their competitors in terms of strength. The same goes for you when picking up winning bets. The best chances of winning in both cases stands with the stronger team and this is where the FIFA World Rankings come in handy.

They may appear baffling at first glance, but the world rankings are one of the keys for a successful bettor come 12 June. Now’s the time to understand how they work and that’s where we come in. We’re going to demystify the rankings for you and break down the elements that make up a strong team according to FIFA.

The world rankings is a list showing all 207 national teams in the world arranged in order of strength using a unique points system devised for this purpose. Spain holds the top place on the table, leading the way with 1,513 points, followed by Germany and Argentina in second and third place respectively. The points systems leaves many fans scratching their heads at first, but it’s pretty straightforward to grasp and will make you sound like a pro instantly.

The points reported on the world rankings reflect the team’s performance during the last four years. A team will earn a certain amount of points for every game they play and the rankings are updated every week on Thursday. The amount of points [P] that can be won after a game varies hugely, but it boils down to four factors: (i) the result of the match [M], (ii) the importance given to it [I], (iii) the strength of the opponent [T], and (iv) the strength of the confederation the opponent is affiliated with [C].

The formula used is P=M*I*T*C. The actual scores are a result of the average points gained over each calendar year; with more weight being given to recent matches over older ones to reflect the team’s present competitive state.