World champions Spain seize top spot from Swedes
Four months have passed since the last FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking was published in August, during which time over 400 international matches have taken place. Never before have so many fixtures been fulfilled in an equivalent period.
Qualifiers for the Women's Olympic Football Tournament Paris 2024 and UEFA Women's Nations League games were on the agenda for European teams.
Nations in the AFC, CAF and Concacaf zones, meanwhile, were involved in qualifying matches for their respective continental tournaments, with OFC representatives – with the exception of Aotearoa New Zealand – competing at the Pacific Games.
This plethora of events inevitably had an impact on December's FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking, the last of 2023.
Consequently, reigning world champions Spain (1st) claimed top spot for the first time.
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They are the fourth team in football history to reach the coveted position, after the USA (2nd, up 1), Germany and Sweden. France (3rd, up 2) make up the podium. England (4th, -) remain just below those three highflyers, ahead of previous leaders Sweden (5th, down 4). Germany (6th), the Netherlands (7th), Japan (8th), Korea DPR (9th) and Canada (10th) complete the top ten, which no longer features Brazil (11th, down 2). As for the remainder of the top 50, Italy (14th, up 3), Philippines (38th, up 6) and Uzbekistan (47th, up 3) made noteworthy advances.
The biggest moves came further down the standings, however, where Congo DR (102nd, up 9), El Salvador (104th, up 11) and Namibia (126th, up 14) all made considerable progress.
In addition to La Roja, Philippines, Haiti (51st), Cambodia (116th) and Cabo Verde (131st) attained their highest-ever placings.
Six nations either appear for the first time (Central African Republic and Macau) or reappear (Korea DPR, American Samoa, Madagascar and Bahamas) in the World Ranking, which brings the number of teams listed to 192 – a new record! And with six other national sides just one match away from joining, it could grow even further in March.
The next FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking will be published in March 2024
Leaders Spain
Moves into top 10 Korea DPR (9th)
Moves out of top 10 Brazil (11th)
Matches played in total 419
Most matches played Botswana, China PR, Chinese Taipei, Korea DPR, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia (9 matches)
Biggest move by points Tanzania (up 68.24 points)
Biggest move by ranks Namibia (up 14 ranks)
Biggest drop by points Sweden (down 71.08 points)
Biggest drop by ranks Cayman Islands (down 14 ranks)
Newly ranked teams 6 (Korea DPR, Central African Republic, American Samoa, Macau, Madagascar, Bahamas)
Teams that are no longer ranked None