…Stars and Stripes feeling heat despite flying high atop FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking
…Buoyant Brazil now just below podium, Colombia enter top 20
…Egypt are biggest climbers, having soared up seven spots
…Nigeria is 36th, unmoved since the last ranking
THUR JUNE 12 2025-theGBJournal| No fewer than 168 women’s international fixtures have been contested globally since 6 March this year, when the previous edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking was published.
While the USA continue to lead the way three months on, there has been plenty of movement further down the standings.
Indeed, the gap at the top has narrowed, with Spain (2nd) and Germany (3rd) heaping the pressure on the Americans. Both have won all of their games since the last update, while a 2-1 loss at home to Brazil (4th, up 4) in April means that the star-studded squad coached by Emma Hayes can see the European pair looming ever larger in their rear-view mirror.
In part on the strength of having upset the four-time world champions, the on-song Seleção have put themselves on the brink of the podium for the first time since December 2013.
England (5th, down 1) complete the top 5, just ahead of Sweden (6th). Below them, Japan and Canada have also felt the after-effects of defeats by South American opposition.
The Nadeshiko, who have been bested by the burgeoning Brazilians twice in the last couple of weeks, have slipped two spots to seventh, while the Canucks have fallen one place to eighth on account of a loss to Argentina in April.
Next up, Korea DPR (9th) are unmoved, while France (10th, up 1) have leapfrogged the Netherlands (11th, down 1) to round off the top 10.
In Africa, Nigeria sitting 36th in global ranking, leads with a wide margin between it and second placed South Africa (1623.29 points vs 1488.49). South Africa is ranked at 54th in world standing. Morocco comes in a distant 3rd (60 in World Ranking).
Besides Brazil, another CONMEBOL team to have caught the eye are Colombia (18th, up 3), who notably triumphed 1-0 away to Korea Republic in the opening instalment of the countries’ recent double-header. The invigorated Cafeteras’ reward is a maiden appearance in the top 20.
Further cause for South American celebration is provided by Paraguay (45th, up 1) and Venezuela (48th, up 3). Both are sitting pretty in their highest-ever positions, helped in La Vinotinto’s case by a vintage 3-1 victory in the first of two friendlies away to New Zealand, who lie almost 20 places above them in the global pecking order.
Similar ground has been broken by Caribbean duo Haiti (50th, up 3) and Puerto Rico (79th, up 2) and Asian nation Saudi Arabia (165th, up 1), while biggest climbers Egypt (93rd, up 7), Luxembourg (111th, up 6) and Bangladesh (128th, up 5) have all made substantial leaps.
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