Nigeria women’s team alongside Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania moved up on the last Fifa women’s ranking for 2020 released by Fifa on Friday, December 18. The Super Falcons rose one spot to 37th on the new global rankings despite a 14-month hiatus since crashing out of the 2020 Olympic qualifiers after a 1-1 draw with Cote d’Ivoire in October 2019. Cameroon are still occupying 51st position despite losing the coveted Caf Olympic Games ticket to Zambia on the away goal rule following a 3-3 draw on aggregate in the final qualifying stage in March. South Africa also remained stagnant in 53rd place despite claiming a record fourth consecutive title following a 2-1 victory over Botswana in the final of the 2020 Cosafa Women’s Cup in November. While Ghana moved up two spots to 58th spot thanks for a runners-up finish at the 2020 Turkish Women’s Cup in March before the convincing back-to-back triumphs over Morocco last month. Elsewhere, Kenya made a huge leap as Cecafa Women’s Cup champions, climbing up 13 spots to 124th place, along with Tanzania (13 places up) to 126th, while Uganda were unranked due to prolonged inactivity. In Africa, Nigeria are still ranked the best on the continent, with Cameroon, South Africa, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire (61st), Tunisia (71st), Morocco (77th), Mali (78th) and Algeria (79th) and Senegal (80th) occupying the top 10 spots. Globally, the USA ended the year 2020 at the summit as reigning world champions followed by Germany, France, the Netherlands and Sweden in the top five of the rankings. Botswana, Comoros, Mauritius, Eswatini and Madagascar were rewarded with rises of 17 spots following their activities in 2020, with only 28 of 56 nations in Africa ending the year on the rankings. The next edition of the women’s ranking will be released on March 26, 2021.
