The present invention provides a video coding method which includes, as one of a plurality of coding modes, a direct mode generating a piece of motion information of each of Macro Blocks, which are obtained by dividing a first picture, by predicting from motion information of a coded Macro Block of other plurality of second pictures, including: a first step for selecting the direct mode as the coding mode by using a variable selection criterion; and a second step for coding the Macro Blocks based on the selected coding mode.