USWNT falls to 3rd in FIFA world rankings

The United States Women’s National Team have fallen to a new low in the FIFA world rankings that were released this morning. For the first time in the history of the women’s world rankings, which were established in 2003, the USWNT have fallen outside the top 2, landing at 3rd in the current rankings.

Based on the USWNT’s Round of 16 finish at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, they lost 38.82 points from the previous rankings, where they still held onto the #1 spot. That was despite the USWNT in official records not losing during the World Cup (losses on penalties are still recorded officially as draws).

Sweden, who beat the USWNT in the Round of 16 on their way to another 3rd place finish, jumped to #1 in the world, just the 3rd team to ever hold the top spot in the women’s world rankings (joining USA and Germany). World champions Spain jumped up to #2 in the rankings. England, the World Cup finalists, remained at #4.

The entirety of the top 10 in the world rankings: Sweden, Spain, USA, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, Canada. Co-hosts Australia, who fought to finish in 4th place, dropped to 11th, while the New Zealand, who didn’t make it out of the group, remained at 26th.

It’s important to remember that the rankings, just like on the men’s side, do not reset based on who wins important major tournaments. The fact that the USWNT had remained at #1 for so long (the last time they were #2 was June 2017) was a testament to the number of points they had accumulated in the system that were still being counted. Now, losing so many points with other teams in the rankings creeping up, the Round of 16 loss for the USWNT, their worst ever finish in a major tournament, led to their historic drop in the rankings.

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