Calculating Russia 2018’s toughest groups Latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking released on 7 June World Cup holders Germany remain top We calculate the difficulty of each group by ranking With the big kick-off for the 2018 FIFA World Cup drawing ever nearer, discussion is heating up about who will emerge victorious from the first round of games, and which teams will overcome their group opponents to reach the knockout stages. The final FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking before the finals begin, which was released yesterday, serves as an interesting barometer for the strength of the teams at Russia 2018. We take a closer look at how the groups compare, and who - according to the average ranking of each group - has the toughest task to progress to the latter stages of the greatest show in planet football. GROUP A Average Ranking: 49 Uruguay (14) Egypt (45) Saudi Arabia (67) Russia (70) Due partly to their lack of competitive action in this World Cup cycle, t