Public Agenda (Accra)
21 March 2011
Ghana’s Black Queens have inched up one place on the Fifa Women’s Ranking from 50 in November 2010 to 49 in March. The latest rankings, released on Friday March 18, 2011, ranks Ghana second on the African continent after Nigeria, which is ranked 27 at global level.Since being included in the rankings, Ghana’s average position on the FIFA World Ranking has been 47. The nation recorded her highest FIFA ranking of 42 in June 2008 while its lowest ranking was 53 in July 2003. Ghana was best mover in June 2008 with three jumps and worst mover in November 2010, falling seven places.
According to Fifa.com’s analysis of Friday’s rankings, which were released exactly 100 days before the kick-off of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011â„¢, there was no shortage of movement on the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking, which has mainly been caused by numerous high-calibre friendly matches. The top trio of the USA, winners of the Algarve Cup 2011, Germany and Brazil remains unchanged, however.
Japan (4th, up 1), meanwhile, have achieved their best position since the introduction of the ranking in 2003 by overtaking Sweden (5th, down 1), thanks to winning their encounter with the Scandinavians in the Algarve Cup match for third place. Canada (6th, up 3) are on an even more impressive run after triumphing in the other prestigious tournament held in March, the Cyprus Cup, and beating England in the process.
Two other teams who have qualified for the World Cup suffered setbacks however, with Korea DPR (8th, down 2) losing ground after not playing any matches and Norway (9th, down 2) finishing only fifth in Portugal. England are non-movers in tenth position, while Australia (11th, up 1) have leapfrogged Italy (12th, down 1), the highest-ranked team not to have qualified for Germany.
The other teams who will be lining up in Germany are Mexico (22nd), New Zealand (24th), Nigeria (27th), Colombia (31st) and of course African runners-up Equatorial Guinea (61st, up 1), who are now anything but an unknown quantity after their surge up the ranking in 2010.
Other teams who have made gains in terms of points and ranks include the Netherlands (14th), Korea Republic and Iceland (joint 16th), with the Icelanders profiting from their surprise run to the final of the Algarve Cup.
The Netherlands and Korea Republic, together with Spain (18th), Scotland (23rd) and Colombia (31st) are currently in their highest-ever position, while the highest climbers are two African teams, Cameroon (66th) and Tunisia (76th), who have each moved up six places.
AllAfrica – All the Time
Continued here:
Ghana: Black Queens Ranked