US women take world lead into 5th year; ranking grows to 176 nations

December 10 – The US women remain top of FIFA’s rankings, a position they have held since 2017. They are followed by Sweden and Germany.

The latest FIFA women’s world ranking is based on more than 300 internationals having been played over the past four months as European qualification for the 2023 World Cup started and the AFC and CAF ran qualifiers for their own senior women’s competitions.

FIFA highlights that although the top three ranked nations are unchanged, there is considerably fluidity below them.

“France (4th, +1) have shifted up one place to fourth, leapfrogging Netherlands (5th, -1), who have paid the price for recent results against Czech Republic and Japan. Spain (9th, +1) have also climbed up one rung on the ladder to move into an all-time high of ninth, while Switzerland (17th, +3) were the biggest movers in the Top 20, rising three places to 17th,” said FIFA.

“The most impressive results are to be found further down the Ranking. Nobody picked up more points over the period than Lebanon (140th, +5), who moved up five places to 140th courtesy of the haul they obtained in beating United Arab Emirates and Guam. In terms of places, Montenegro (85th, +13) outdid everyone, scaling 13 slots to reach 85th, thanks in small part to a win in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

176 of FIFA’s 211 member nations were active enough in the national team women’s game to be ranked. Laos, Egypt, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Benin, Liberia, Niger, and South Sudan are all new entries to the world ranking.

To see the full ranking, click here.

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