Sports Pearls, May 19/2023: Fifa rankings-2023 list has been declared by FIFA last month. Among the women’s soccer teams, the superpower of the world, America, remains at the top with 2091.38 points. Among the men, the current world champion Argentina has overtaken last year’s top team Brazil to reach the first place. Germany is second in the women’s list, with 2068.12 points and Sweden is third with 2064.67 points. Among the joint hosts of the FIFA Women’s World Cup-2023, the Australian team has reached the 10th position in the list with 1917.91 points, while its neighbor and co-host New Zealand is at the 25th position with 1706.96 points.
In FIFA ranking-2023, the women of the global superpower America are on top
According to the women’s FIFA world ranking list, the women of the global superpower USA are on top with 2091.38 points. American women won the first FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991 and became world champions. By winning 4 of the 8 World Cups held so far, American women have maintained their dominance in this most popular sport in the world. The US women have won the FIFA World Cup in 1999, 2015 and 2019. Like the World Cup, American women have also become Olympic soccer/football champions 4 times during the last 30 years. German women have won the world title twice in 2003 and 2007, while Norwegian women have won the title once in 1995 and Japanese women in 2011.
Top 10 teams in the Fifa world ranking-2023
Among the top 10 teams in this ranking, after America, the women of Nazi Germany are second with 2068.12 points, while the women of Sweden, a European country famous for making of the Bofors guns, are in third place with 2064.67 points. England is fourth (4) with 2055.82 points, France is 5th with 2021.02 points, Canada is 6th with 2001.56 points, Spain is 7th with 1997.65 points, Holland is 8th with 1991.45 points, Brazil is 9th with 1972.99 points, while Australia is in 10th place with 1917.91 points.
It is to be noted that last year, the team of Democratic Republic of Korea was on the 10th place with 1940 points, but due to the loss of 100 points in some defeats, now the Korean team has slipped to the 17th place with 1840 points in the latest list. On the other hand, People’s Republic of China has come down from 16th to 13th place with 1856.98 points. Russian women have remained at the 24th position with 1717 points, while the Indian women’s team has slipped from 58th to 61st position with 1391.3 points.
Women’s teams are ahead of their respective countries’ men in the FIFA rankings
The women of almost all the countries of the world, including the global superpower USA, have higher ranks than the men of their respective countries in the FIFA rankings of soccer/football, showing better performance. Superpower USA’s men’s soccer team is at the 13th position in this list with 1653.77 points. But surprisingly, the women of Brazil and Argentina, who have been known as soccer masters for the past century, are far behind the men of their country in this ranking list, unlike other countries. Brazil’s women’s team is ranked 9th in the FIFA rankings with 1972.99 points, while Argentina’s women’s position is even worse than the Brazilian women’s. Argentinian women are on the 28th place in this list with 1682.45 points. Readers are well aware of the fact that in the century-long history of football, men’s football has been dominated by Brazil and Argentina so far.
American women’s football/soccer team also tops in earnings
American women’s soccer started in 1985 and within a few years it became the top team in the world. Along with the sport, the American women’s team is also at the top in terms of earnings. After winning the 2015 FIFA World Cup, the US women’s team has earned $51 million. The American women’s earnings are much higher than the American men’s football team. The popularity of American footballers among women sports fans can be easily estimated from the fact that American star footballer Alex Morgan was ranked 12th among the highest paid female athletes in 2019. Readers will find that 12th place is not a special achievement. But the truth is that most of the top earners in sports are not from a team but from ‘solo sports’ like tennis. 7 of the top 10 players in the 2021 list of ‘Player Earnings’ were from tennis only.
