Overview:

The U.S. women’s national team remained second in the latest FIFA women’s world ranking, which was released on Tuesday morning.

The U.S. women’s national team remained second in the latest FIFA women’s world ranking, which was released on Tuesday morning.

Despite last Tuesday’s away defeat to England on the road to the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, Spain maintained the pole position that it claimed in last August. On the back of that triumph, the Lionesses (3rd, up 1) climbed up one place, leapfrogging Germany (4th, down 1).

The Americans (2nd, unchanged) 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 the Women’s World Cup – were the biggest climbers among the top 10.

Sweden (8th) dropped three spots after its opening four qualifiers for the World Cup saw the team lose once and draw once. Korea DPR tumbled out of the leading pack (11th, down 2), as it was replaced by the Netherlands (10th, up 1). The Dutch are in the upper echelons for the first time since March 2025. The Netherlands took four points off France in last week’s qualifying doubleheader 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 honorable mention goes to American Samoa (120th, up 17), which has built upon the 16-place rise it registered between the rankings published last August and December. Over the past two updates, the islanders have climbed 33 places after having amassed more than 120 points.

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.