Football Ranking Mysteries Explained
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 30 November 2013
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ahead of the 2014 World Cup draw next Friday, we look at world football rankings. How are Switzerland seeded when the Netherlands, Italy and England are not? The answer lies in the playing of friendly games, which can be incredibly unfriendly to your ranking if you play the wrong team at the wrong time. This programme was first broadcast on the BBC World Service.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | This is the short edition of More or Less, first broadcast on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:42.0 | Thank you for downloading from the BBC. |
| 0:45.0 | The details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use, |
| 0:49.0 | go to BBCworldservice. com slash podcasts. Hello and welcome to more or less on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:58.6 | I'm Ruth Alexander. |
| 1:00.2 | With Ben Carter this week we'll be revealing how a friendly match could lose your nation, the World Cup. |
| 1:06.4 | And what to do about it. |
| 1:17.4 | From the sounds of it, France has already won the 2014 World Cup but no they're just really pleased to have qualified and the next thing to find out is who will be |
| 1:21.4 | playing who in the finals next year. |
| 1:24.0 | On Friday the 6th of December, the eyes of billions of football fans around the world |
| 1:28.1 | will be focused on one place, Costa de Suuipi in Bahia, Brazil, |
| 1:32.3 | where the World Cup draw will take place. |
| 1:34.8 | And eight teams already have a distinct advantage. |
| 1:38.1 | They've been seeded, which means they'll be separated from one another in the early stages. They'll each be placed in a pool with three other teams. |
| 1:45.0 | They've been seeded like this because of the world's highest ranking teams. |
| 1:49.0 | If the top teams weren't separated like this in the first stage, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.