Welcome to the sixth edition of the International Power Rankings, an absolutely perfect and not subjective at all ranking of the world's best National soccer teams. The purpose of these rankings is to see how well your everyday soccer fan can evaluate teams compared to big name ranking systems like FIFA or Elo. I'll be comparing the results from each international window to see how well each does along with keeping a running tally throughout the year.

Please reference editions one/two for methodology.

Record during window indicated in parenthesis (W-D-L)

A lot of the bigger teams in Europe did not have games that counted due to resting or missing players to injury. For better or for worse, it means that there's not going to be a ton of movement up top this edition. Lots further down though.

With that in mind, let us begin:
1. Spain - Spain went undefeated yet again, but alas most of their best players were missing. They end the year in the top spot.
2. Argentina-(1-0-1) An away loss to Paraguay and a 1-0 home win over Peru is not great. In the next window, they must play Uruguay away and Brazil at home. It will be a true test to see if they are falling off or not.
3. Germany- (1-0-0) In they one game that counts for the rankings, they absolutely crushed Bosnia and Herzegovina 7-0, which is the largest margin of victory thus far in UEFA NL. 2024 was a successful rebuilding year for them.
4. France(1-1-0)- A home draw vs Israel? Really bad. An away 3-1 vs Italy? Really good. Les Blues did just enough to win their NL group over Italy.
5. Portugal(1-0-0)- Finally a convincing 5-0 win over Poland.
6. England - Missed upwards of 8 players this window so their results won't count. It'll be interesting to see how the usual starters respond to Kane's criticism of their absence once they are back.
7. Colombia(0-0-2)-This was the worst window in some time for Colombia. We can overlook a 2-3 away loss to Uruguay in what was an absolute banger of a game, but losing 0-1 to Ecuador despite being up a man for the vast majority of the game is not good.
8. Brazil(0-2-0)- Two 1-1 draws, one away to Venezuela and one at home against Uruguay. Not that impressive, but at least they are on track again to comfortably qualify for the WC.
9. Italy (1-0-1)- They had France at home needing just a result to win the group. They blew it just enough for France to leapfrog them.
10. Netherlands(1-0-0) A comfortable home win against a lesser team. Who saw that coming?
11. Japan (2-0-0)- Japan is cruising. They need just 3 more points to directly qualify for the WC.
12. Uruguay (1-1-0)- A 3-2 win at home vs Colombia and a 1-1 draw away to Brazil and looked pretty good doing it. Looks like the potential team disarray was overstated. (+3)
13. Morocco (2-0-0)-Not only are they sleepwalking, they are dominating in the process. (+3)
14. Belgium- Another window missing starters, however other teams are starting to pass them by while they remain in neutral. (-1)
15. Croatia (0-1-1) Lost to Scotland after going down to 10 men but managed to hold off a rotated Portugal to secure a quarterfinal spot. Don't think they're going to do much there though. (-1)
16. Ecuador (2-0-0)- A dominant win at home against Bolivia was expected, but a 10-man away victory against Colombia was not. Very well done. (+2)
17. Switzerland (0-1-1)- Whatever they had cooking for the EUROs, it is long gone. They are now relegated to League B after failing to beat Serbia at home. (-5)
18. Austria (1-1-0)- They had a golden chance to win their group and auto-promotion to League A, but they'll be kicking themselves for drawing Slovenia at home. (-1)
19. Denmark(0-1-1)- They did JUST enough to maintain second place in their group. At least they have been competitive in every game they've played since the EUROS.
20. United States- (2-0-0) FINALLY, they had enough players to have their results count and had a solid outing that stops the bleeding. Now they need to continue that form if they are to climb back up the rankings.
21. Senegal (2-0-0) Fun Fact: Senegal has the longest current unbeaten streak at 18 games. Why aren't they higher? Because they are basically doing so by the skin of their teeth against not great competition. We'll see how long they are able to keep it up.
22. Iran (2-0-0)- Iran could not have won those games in a more ugly fashion if they tried. They did win those games though, and in qualifying that's what counts the most. Their golden generation does seem to be showing signs of fading however.
23. Canada (2-0-0)- Dispatched Suriname with ease. They now have to go through Mexico and likely the US to win their first title in 25 years. To be the best, you have to beat the best. (+1)
24. South Korea (1-1-0)- Extended their undefeated streak to 10. Similar to Senegal, they aren't doing anything particularly impressive, but they aren't losing. (+1)
25. Mexico (1-1-0)- Convincing 0-2 loss followed by a VERY convincing 4-0 win against Honduras. Their reward? An in form Canada. Not only will they be fighting for a spot in the NL finals, but their spot on this list as well. (-2)