- Nigeria’s women’s football team climbs 8 spots in FIFA rankings to 32nd globally due to strong Women’s World Cup performance
- South Africa rises to 45th, Cameroon at 56th; Spain, Sweden, USA, England, and France lead the global rankings
Nigeria has risen eight places in the latest FIFA women’s rankings released by the Federation of International Football Association.
The Super Falcons, ranked 40th in the world in the June ranking, gained 94 points to amass a total of 1649 points, moving them to 32nd place in the world.
The Falcons’ rise in the rankings was largely due to their strong showing at the recently concluded Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The Nigeria senior women’s national team won one game and drew the other three before being eliminated from the tournament on penalty shootouts by eventual champions England.
After securing a goalless draw against Olympic champions Canada in their first game, the Falcons followed it up with a stunning 3-2 win over co-hosts Australia before finishing with a stalemate against the Republic of Ireland.
Randy Waldrum’s ladies finished with five points, one point behind The Matildas, who defeated Canada 4-0 in their previous match. But the point was enough to get them into the competition’s round of 16 for the third time in nine appearances before being eliminated by the Lionesses.
The 11-time African champions also went undefeated in their group, making them the only African country among the continent’s four representatives at the tournament.
Waldrum’s team maintained their lead in Africa.
South Africa rose to 45th in the world and second in Africa in the ranking released on Friday. Cameroon ranks 56th in the world and third on the continent, with 1445 points, while Morocco and Ghana rank 58th and 59th in the world, respectively, to round out the top five in Africa.
Globally, world champion Spain is ranked second, trailing only Sweden, which rose from third to first.
The United States of America comes in third, England in fourth, and France in fifth.
The FIFA ranking, which was released on Friday, is the first since the conclusion of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.