Super Falcons drop 7 places in latest FIFA rankings

…Nigeria side has biggest drop by points

Nigeria’s Super Falcons dropped seven places to 46th position in the world in the latest rankings released by football governing body, FIFA, on Friday.

Falcons had earlier been ranked 39th in the world in the previous ranking released on June 17.

Their poor performance at the just concluded 2022 Women’s African Cup of Nations in Morocco, where they lost three matches for the first time in the history of the competition and failed to win any medal was responsible for the drop.

The Falcons also had the biggest drop by points in the world, losing 63.33 points to have their total points at 1535.09 from the 1604.42 points that they had when the previous ranking was released.

Nigeria’s conquerors in the third-place match of the 2022 WAFCON Zambia were the highest movers both by points and ranks, amassing 89.78 additional points and moving up 23 places to place 80th in the world.

USA sit on the summit of the world rankings, unchanged, while Germany who were runners-up at the EURO 2022 moved up three places to the second position which was previously held by Sweden who are now third.

Freshly crowned EURO 2022 winners are up four places to fourth, while France are down two places in fifith.

Netherlands – down two places, Canada – down by one, Spain – down by one are in the sixth, seventh and eighth position respectively, while Brazil and North Korea are unchanged in ninth and 10th respectively.

Despite the drop, Falcons still maintain the No. 1 position in Africa, chased by 2022 WAFCON winners South Africa who overtook Cameroon to be the second-best placed team in Africa and ranked 54th in the world.

Cameroon are down to third in the continent and 59th in the world, while Ghana who failed to qualify for the WAFCON remain fourth on the continent and down by one place to 60th in the world ahead of the Ivory Coast who remained unchanged in the continent and the world at fifth and 64th respectively.