Nigeria Climbs One Spot in Latest FIFA Women’s Rankings

Nigeria moved into 38th position on FIFA’s latest Women’s World Rankings released for the first quarter of 2020 yesterday.

The African champions climbed a spot from 39th position in December 2019 amid the country’s inactivity since bowing out of the Olympic Games qualifiers last October.

The Super Falcons missed out on a return to the showpiece event for the third time in a row at the expense of West African rivals Cote d’Ivoire on the away goal rule following a 1-1 aggregate score.

Nigeria retained the top spot in the standings in Africa after it garnered 1,614 points, while Cameroon kept the second place despite dropping two places to 51st following a shock loss to Zambia earlier in March.

A win over Lesotho saw South Africa rise three spots to 53rd and third on the continent, while Ghana are stagnant in the fourth position despite their runners-up spot at the Turkish Women’s Cup.

The latest rankings saw no changes to the continent’s top 10 as Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Tunisia, Morocco, Mali, Algeria are fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.

However, Zambia climbed six places to 100th in the world and 12th in Africa after a maiden Olympic qualification, while Kenya (137th), Tanzania (139th) and Uganda (146th) all dropped four spots.

On the world stage, champions USA and Germany retained the top two spots, while France and the Netherlands, Sweden, England, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Korea DPR completed the top 10.

Gambia are newest ranked team on the list, becoming the 159th country on the standings and are 113th ranked in the world and 17th best women’s footballing nation in Africa.

The next edition of the women’s ranking will be published on June 26.