October 20: Spain have strengthened their grip on top of the FIFA Women’s World Ranking after taking four points from a doubleheader in the United States.
The world champions now sit on 2,121.50 points, opening up a 79.12-point lead over the USA after a win and a 2-2 draw between the two sides.
The Americans are second with 2,042.38 points, although Germany are now just 7.76 points back in third after winning their last two friendlies at home.
England remain fourth with 2,025.47, ahead of Japan, France and Brazil, while Sweden and Canada complete the top nine.
The only move into the top 10 comes from Denmark, who move up two places to 10th after a win and draw in Canada. It is his first top 10 appearance since August 2010.
Further down the line, Malawi are comfortably the top movers.
Their run to the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations final, qualification for the 2027 World Cup and strong performances in Olympic qualification have seen them climb 49 places to 104th.
The Scorchers collected 158.44 ranking points during the period, the largest gain of any national team, following what has been a breakthrough year for the women’s program.
New African champions Cameroon also climbed strongly, rising nine places to 62nd. Tanzania rises 11 places to 111th, Burkina Faso rises nine to 109th and Vanuatu rises eight to 100th.
Slovenia, for its part, reaches a national maximum of 36th.
Egypt suffered the biggest drop after losing all three WAFCON matches, falling 14 places to 113th. Zimbabwe drops nine places to 136th and the Democratic Republic of Congo falls eight places to 114th.
A total of 183 internationals were included in the latest rankings, including European and African World Cup qualifiers, CAF Olympic qualifiers and friendlies.
The next official ranking update is scheduled for December 7.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at (email protected)