England up one place following victory over leaders Spain
Netherlands into top 10 at Korea DPR’s expense
American Samoa buoyant despite FIFA Women’s World Cup™ qualifying heartache
Some 276 relevant international fixtures have been contested since the previous instalment of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking was published last December. During this period, FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027™ qualifying action has taken centre stage, with CAF the only confederation not to have hosted a fixture as part of the preliminary competition.
Despite last Tuesday’s away defeat to England on the road to next year’s global showpiece in Brazil, Spain (1st, unchanged) maintain the pole position that they claimed in last August’s edition. On the back of that triumph, the Lionesses (3rd, up 1) climb up one place, leapfrogging Germany (4th, down 1) in the process.
Spain’s closest challengers remain the United States (2nd, unchanged), who won twice and lost once in this month’s three-match friendly series against Japan (5th, up 3). The Nadeshiko, who prevailed in all six of their outings en route to capturing the crown at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup – the Asian preliminary competition for next year’s extravaganza in South America – are the biggest climbers among the top 10.
Elsewhere, Sweden (8th) have fallen three spots after their opening four qualifiers for FIFA’s women’s flagship event saw them lose once and draw once. Korea DPR (11th, down 2) have tumbled out of the leading pack, where they are replaced by the Netherlands (10th, up 1), who are in the upper echelons for the first time since the update that went to print last March. The upwardly mobile Dutch took four points off France in last week’s qualifying double-header to close in on Canada (9th, up 1).
There is no shortage of jostling for positions further down the pecking order, with five nations entering uncharted territory: Türkiye (51st, up 7), El Salvador (78th, up 8), Kosovo (81st, up 11), Nepal (87th, up 2) and Saudi Arabia (160th, up 1).
An honourable mention goes to American Samoa (120th, up 17), who have built upon the 16-place rise they registered between the rankings published last August and December. Over the past two updates, the islanders have scaled an impressive 33 places after having amassed over 120 points.
Leaders | Spain (unchanged) |
|---|---|
Moves into top 10 | Netherlands |
Moves out of top 10 | Korea DPR |
Matches played in total | 276 |
Most matches played | Japan and Philippines (9 matches each) |
Biggest move by points | Kosovo (up 58.33 points) |
Biggest move by ranks | American Samoa (up 17 ranks) |
Biggest drop by points | Solomon Islands (down 62.61 points) |
Biggest drop by ranks | Suriname (down 14 ranks) |
Newly ranked teams | None |
Teams that are no longer ranked | British Virgin Islands |
In another storyline served up by this instalment and in a first since the August 2023 edition, a team have bowed out of the standings, with the British Virgin Islands no longer featuring. The Concacaf minnows relinquish their place after having gone four years without a fixture, bringing the pool down to 197 teams.
The next edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking will be published on 16 June 2026.