Matildas keep top 10 ranking despite conceding 13 goals in 3 games

FIFA has released its latest Women's World Rankings and the Matildas have maintained ninth place despite conceding 13 goals in their last four matches.

The Matildas had a horror start under new coach Tony Gustavsson, losing to Germany 5-2, the Netherlands 5-0 and Denmark 3-2, before steadying in a 0-0 defensive stalemate against Sweden.

This means that Japan, who move into the top 10, are now just 10 points shy of the Matildas in ninth place. The Matildas dropped two places in the previous Women's World Rankings, published in April.

The Matildas are also just 10 points shy of Canada in eighth, however, and roughly 220 points behind the USA in first place.

In the two months since the last FIFA Women‘s World Ranking was published, only about a third of its teams (56 of 167) have been in action, and that just in friendlies. In spite of this, there are still some notable changes in the June 2021 edition of the Ranking, including on the podium!

France (3rd) regain the third spot the Netherlands (4th) wrested from them a few weeks ago. The Leeuwinnen had mixed results in the period, losing 1-0 to Italy (14th) but also routing Norway (13th) 7-0, whereas France enjoyed a 1-0 win over Germany, who continue to occupy second place behind leaders USA.

Beaten by Les Bleus and then held scoreless by Chile (37th), Germany nonetheless lost ground on the frontrunners. 124.20 points now separate the top two teams, the largest such gap ever seen.

For their part, Japan (10th) returned to the TOP 10 following wins over Ukraine (31st), and Mexico (28th) twice. Korea DPR (11th) were the team making way as they slipped out of the TOP 10.

Further down the standings, Tunisia (77th) jumped two places courtesy of a pair of victories over Jordan (63rd), who fall four places. Georgia (123rd) went one better by ascending three places after a win (3-2) and a draw (0-0) against Azerbaijan (78th), who were 49 rungs above them before their meetings.

While no team managed a new, all-time high this month in terms of ranking placement, several did achieve new highs in terms of points: Spain (12th, 1935.87 pts), Slovenia (49th, 1492.86 pts), Jamaica (51st, 1468.81 pts), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (58th, 1416.85 pts).

Click HERE to view the complete ranking.

The next edition of the FIFA Women’s World Ranking will be published on 20 August 2021.

Leader   USA (unchanged)
Moves into top 10    Japan
Moves out of top 10   Korea DPR
Matches played in total    51
Most matches played    Japan, Nigeria, United States (3 each)
Biggest move by points    Tunisia (+ 19.09 points)
Biggest move by ranks   Georgia (+ 3 places)
Biggest drop by points   Jordan (- 19.09 points)
Biggest drop by ranks   Jordan, Latvia (- 4 places)
Newly ranked teams   none
Teams that are no longer ranked    none