While all remained calm in the upper reaches of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking, with USA remaining top of the pile, there was delight for Switzerland who rose to their highest ever position of 15th.

Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s side, who made it to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™ Round of 16, have climbed four places since March, thanks to wins over Italy and Czech Republic which booked their spot at the UEFA Women’s EURO.

The biggest movers were matched, and closely followed, by Iceland, who climbed into 16th, one shy of their all-time best placing thanks to a trio of wins as they pushed for a spot at the same competition. Bosnia-Herzegovina climbed to their highest position of 60th, but were unable to clinch a continental finals place.

Only Kenya surpassed Iceland in claiming the biggest points haul this quarter, having upset the odds by securing an away goals win against Algeria to propel them to a debut spot at the CAF Africa Women’s Cup of Nations. They now sit 130th in the table, while that defeat saw Algeria drop seven places to 81st.

Outside of qualifiers in Europe and Africa, the rest of the 99 games played since March consisted of friendlies from across the globe, with results among those helping the likes of Costa Rica (29th), Philippines (72nd), Guyana (82nd), New Caledonia (87th) and Burkina Faso (115th) all reaching new highs. A special mention goes to Austria who, while not managing to increase the rank beyond their current best-ever of 25th, they have now gone three-and-a-half years of successive point increases at every new release of the women’s ranking.

Bulgaria re-entered the table, having dropped out in March, though five teams slipped out due to inactivity, namely Argentina, Guam, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bhutan. This leaves 132 teams in the ranking.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking will be published on 26 August 2016.

Leader

USA

Moves into top ten

None

Moves out of top ten

None

Matches played in total

99

Most matches played

South Africa (6)

Biggest move by ranks

Switzerland (15th), Iceland (16th), up 4

Biggest drop by ranks

Algeria (81st), down 7

Newly ranked teams

Bulgaria

Teams no longer ranked due to prolonged inactivity

Argentina, Guam, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan