Women’s World Cup winner Spain has secured the top spot in the FIFA World Rankings, marking the first time they have achieved this distinction. This achievement makes them only the third nation in history to lead the year-end list.
In the previous rankings, released shortly after the FIFA Women’s World Cup in August, Spain had risen to the second position globally, trailing only Sweden, the team they had defeated in the semi-finals, by a margin of just over 17 points.
During the UEFA Nations League group stages, Spain and Sweden were pitted against each other, with Spain emerging victorious in both their home and away fixtures, ultimately clinching the top spot.
In contrast, Sweden faced difficulties, losing three out of six matches and drawing one, resulting in a significant drop of 71 points.
Spain would have claimed the number one position back in August if they hadn’t suffered a 4-0 defeat to Japan in the FIFA Women’s World Cup group stage, which cost them a potential 35 ranking points.
Since the inception of the FIFA Women’s World Rankings in July 2003, these rankings have been predominantly dominated by two countries: the United States and Germany. Until August, they were the sole occupants of the top spot.
In the previous rankings, Sweden, despite not winning a major international competition since 1984, secured the top spot for the first time. The dethroned world champions, the United States, slipped to their lowest-ever ranking, third place, trailing Spain by a mere 0.63 ranking points.
Although, like Spain, the United States has won five out of six matches played since then, their victories were in friendly matches at home against lower-ranked opponents.
Nevertheless, they have risen to the second position globally, despite a reduction in their total ranking points. Spain’s five victories have all been in competitive matches against the top twenty-ranked nations, including two wins against the previous number-one team.
