While the eyes of the planet have been trained on the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ for the last couple of weeks, women’s football has not stood still. Some 48 women’s internationals have been played since October, resulting in some significant changes in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking. It is as you were at the top, however, with USA holding on to first place, which has been theirs since 2017. That said, the gap between them and their new closest challengers, Germany (2nd, up one place), is narrowing, with USA having lost three of their last four matches, including a 2-1 defeat to the Germans.

Sweden have dropped one place to the third, ahead of England (4th) and France (5th). Canada (6th) are closing in on the top 5, while Spain (7th) have lost a little ground. Italy have not had a happy end to the year, falling three places. In contrast, Portugal (22nd, up one place) and Republic of Ireland (23rd, up one) finish 2022 on a high, reaching their best-ever positions. Turkey (64th, plus 3) had the biggest jump in terms of points (+10.23 pts) and Estonia (91st, plus 5) were the highest climbers when it came to places. No side suffered a bigger fall in places than Montenegro (96th, minus 5). Some 187 FIFA member associations featured in the December 2022 Ranking, out of 211 in all, the highest number ever recorded at the end of a calendar year. The next FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking will be published on 24 March 2023