New Zealand’s Football Ferns have fallen to their lowest-ever position in the FIFA women’s world rankings.
The Ferns moved from 28th to 31st place in the August 2024 rankings following results at the Olympic Games in France.
New Zealand’s highest-ever position was 16th (in five sets of rankings between December 2013 and March 2016), and their previous lowest was 30th (December 2023).
Latest FIFA women’s rankings
In Oceania, the Solomon Islands made the biggest jump with two spots to move into 86th place.
Oceania rankings
Here are the current rankings for Oceania nations, with the latest movements in the rankings:
#31 (-3) Aotearoa New Zealand
#56 (+1) Papua New Guinea
#72 Fiji
#86 (+2) Solomon Islands
#97 Tonga
#101 Samoa
#105 (+1) New Caledonia
#113 (-2) Tahiti
#114 (-2) Cook Islands
#121 Vanuatu
World rankings
The United States moved into top spot in the global rankings, while England have moved into second place:
#1 (+4) United States
#2 (+1) England
#3 (-2) Spain
#4 Germany
#5 (+1) Sweden
#6 (+2) Canada
#7 Japan
#8 (+1) Brazil
#9 (+1) Korea DPR
#10 (-8) France
How the rankings are calculated
Points are allocated to teams from their most recent games and are weighted using the following criteria:
- Result of the match.
- Home vs away, or neutral ground.
- Importance of the match.
- Difference in ranking between the teams.
Beating a highly-rated team, away, and in a tournament, rather than a friendly, can boost a team’s momentum up the rankings.
A win over a lowly-rated team can have little impact.
Winning or losing, of course, is the most important criteria, but goal difference and goals scored are also taken into account, as is shown in the following table.
READ MORE: The methodology used to rank teams >>>>>
This story was first published on August 20, 2024
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