Super Falcons of Nigeria are still best women’s football team, even as many CAF teams moved up in the latest ranking released by FIFA yesterday.
The Falcons, record African champions, remain unmoved in 36th place globally, despite not playing any matches since the previous rankings were published on December 13, 2024.
Current African champions, South Africa, are still the continent’s second best side, although they dropped four points to the 54th position in the world.
Africa’s third best team, Morocco, sit in the 60th position, while Zambia dropped two places to 64th but remain fourth-best in Africa.
There are eye-catching movements for Djibouti, Kenya and Tanzania, among other African nations, as the ranking marks a number of milestones.
The first release of 2025 features more teams than ever before- 196. Djibouti make their debut, entering the global pecking order in 195th place. This is just one of the ranking-related storylines served up the last couple of months, during which 127 internationals have been contested, including African qualifiers for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027.
The USA still lead the table despite having suffered a 2-1 reverse at home in the SheBelieves Cup trophy decider; their conquerors, Japan (5th, up 3), return to the top five for the first time since December 2015. It is as you were immediately below the Stars and Stripes, with Spain (2nd), Germany (3rd) and England (4th) remaining their closest pursuers. Moving down, Sweden (6th), Canada (7th) and Brazil (8th) have all slipped a spot, while Korea DPR (9th) and the Netherlands (10th) have not budged and continue to round off the top 10.
The Nadeshiko are the only team in the upper echelons to have climbed more than two places. On the other hand, a glance further down the standings reveals a string of remarkable rises, including by Puerto Rico (81st, up 4), Montenegro (84th, up 4), El Salvador (85th, up 5), Nepal (99th, up 4), the United Arab Emirates (112th, up 4), Cabo Verde (125th, up 4) and Cyprus (127th, up 6).
Burkina Faso (132nd) and Benin (147th) have also enjoyed impressive progressions (both up 5), but they are eclipsed by two fellow African nations: Tanzania (138th) and Kenya (142nd) share the honour of being this edition’s biggest climbers in terms of places, having both soared up seven spots.
There could well be more CAF celebrations on the cards when the next instalment is released in June, as four African sides (Chad, Eritrea, Libya and Sudan) are just one official match away from making history by sealing their first appearance in the standings.
