Countries from Europe who do not enter in a particular year at an age group will score 0. Countries from outside Europe tend to only enter intermittently (mainly due to the high travel costs involved). To avoid these countries being at a disadvantage, provided they have entered at some time in the period covering the rankings in the age group concerned, some points will be credited for each year based on their position in the years they have entered.

In drawing up these principles it was decided that for age groups other than the youngest, countries entering the age group below as well as the age group being considered should have some points credited from their participation. This means that countries that do not enter at a younger age group will not earn as many points as those who do. This will have an effect on the overall positions of European countries in particular as they get 0 points if they do not enter in any particular year whilst those who do participate are rewarded accordingly.

There is no younger age group in which to earn points so the under 16 ranking is based on a weighted average of results over a four year period in the U16 World Cup. The weightings to be applied are 1.00, 0.75. 0.50 and 0.25 with 2009 being 1.

The under 19 ranking is based on the combination of weighted rankings in the U19 World Cup (held in District North) over the previous 3 years with weightings of 1.00, 0.66 and 0.33 (2009 = 1) - together with a weighted ranking of a country’s performances in the U16 World Cup over the same period - with weightings 0.33, 0.66 and 1 (2009 = 0.33). These weightings for the U19 World Cup results and for the U16 World Cup results give the highest weighting to the current cohort of under 19 players (who were under 16 three years ago).

The under 23 ranking is based on the combination of weighted rankings in the U23 World Cup (held in Apeldoorn) over the previous 4 years together with a weighted ranking of a team’s performances in the U19 World Cup over the same period. Points awarded for IKF U21 / U23 Continental and IKF U23 World Championship (using the same principles as in the overall IKF Ranking system) are also included.