Women’s soccer drops to 20th place in FIFA rankings for first time in four years after ‘World Cup group stage exit’
After being knocked out of the group stage of the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia-New Zealand, the South Korean national team’s ranking in the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has dropped to 20th place for the first time in nearly four years.
According to the women’s soccer world rankings released by FIFA on Friday, South Korea has 1,773.93 ranking points, down three spots from 17th place in June. In June, it had 1,840.27 points.
This is the first time since December 2019 that South Korea’s women’s soccer team has fallen below 20th place in the FIFA rankings. Since then, the team has been ranked between 15th and 19th, but has slipped to 20th in nearly four years.
The team, led by Colleen Bell, was eliminated from Group H of the World Cup with one draw and two losses.
Back-to-back losses to then-ranked 25th-ranked Colombia and 72nd-ranked Morocco severely hurt their chances of reaching the round of 16, and they only managed to salvage a 1-1 draw with second-ranked Germany in the final.
After reaching the World Cup quarterfinals and round of 16, respectively, Colombia and Morocco were ranked 22nd and 58th.
Morocco, the first Arab nation to reach the Women’s World Cup Round of 16, earned the most ranking points with 104.22.
Germany, who were drawn alongside South Korea in the group stage, dropped to sixth place.
After reaching the quarterfinals, Japan jumped from 11th to 8th. Champions Spain jumped from sixth to second with 49.56 ranking points.
The United States, considered the “best team in the world,” dropped to third place. This is the first time the U.S. has fallen from the top of the FIFA rankings since June 2017.
The U.S. was the “favorite” to win the tournament, but was edged out by Sweden in a penalty shootout in the Round of 16.
This is the first time since 2003 that both the United States and Germany have fallen from the top two spots in the FIFA Women’s Soccer Rankings.
It was also the first time in a Women’s World Cup since 1991 that both the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the FIFA rankings failed to reach the quarterfinals.
Sweden, ranked third, took the top spot for the first time with 19.46 ranking points. 먹튀검증 Sweden reached the quarterfinals of the tournament and finished in third place.