The latest FIFA women’s ranking has been released with the US Women’s National Team still leading ahead of several of Europe’s powers.
July 2022 was a busy month for women’s football, with five major tournaments taking place across the globe. In addition to the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, continental championships were held in Africa, South America, North America and Oceania, all serving as qualifying events for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Since June 17, 2022, when the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking was last published, no fewer than 221 matches have been played, generating considerable movement in the standings.
And while the US, recent winners of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship, remain the team to catch, the Stars and Stripes have a new pursuer in Germany (No. 2, up three). The EURO 2022 runners-up move ahead of Sweden (No. 3, down one), whose own European title ambitions came to an end in the semifinals.
Freshly crowned continental champions, England moved up four places to No. 4, ahead of France in fifth (down two). Drops for the Netherlands to sixth, Canada to seventh and Spain to eighth are the other significant changes in this edition’s top 10.
The top five ranking Arab nations are Jordan at 66, Morocco at 76, Tunisia at 78, Algeria at 79 and Bahrain at 86.
Like the Lionesses, South Africa also moved up four places, to No. 54, on the back of their title triumph at the 2022 CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Semifinalists at that tournament, Zambia (No. 80) are this edition’s most-improved side after surging 23 places. Nigeria (No. 46, down seven), who surprisingly went down 1-0 to the She-polopolo in the match for third place, registered the biggest decline in terms of points (minus 69.33).
Another notable improver in this edition are Jamaica, who achieved their highest-ever placing of 42nd, following their third place at the Concacaf Championship. Also enjoying all-time highs are Iceland at No. 14, the Republic of Ireland at No. 26, Portugal at No. 27 and Zambia.
Four new teams have joined the ranking since June 2022: Cambodia (No. 120), Turkmenistan (No. 137), Timor-Leste (No. 152) and Guinea-Bissau (No. 169), giving the August 2022 edition a record-breaking 185 FIFA member associations.
The next edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking will be published on Oct. 13, 2022, ahead of the draw for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2022 on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022 in Auckland.
