Reigning SAFF champions make waves in FIFA rankings

Bangladesh moved up seven places in the latest women's football rankings released by FIFA on Thursday, following their maiden SAFF Championship triumph last month.

According to the latest ranking -- which was updated after August 05 – the women in red and green improved their position from 147 to 140, having gained 37.39 points during the timeframe. In the process, Bangladesh went ahead of the likes of Namibia, Benin, American Samoa, Lebanon, Tajikistan, Angola, and Burkina Faso.  

Featuring a total of 23 goals in five matches while conceding only one, the Sabina Khatun-led side were on a rampant run in the SAFF tournament as they shrugged off their group-stage opponents -- including Maldives, Pakistan, and India, who fell three places in ranking from 58 – before crushing Bhutan in the semi-final and downing the then 102-rank hosts Nepal in the grand finale at the Dasarath Rangasala stadium.

Bangladesh women's team on an open-top bus during their parade in the capital following return to country as SAFF champions on September 21, 2022. Photo: STAR

While the jump in ranking position may appear to be underwhelming -- considering Bangladesh managed to beat a couple of high-rank teams, and that too on away grounds in a competitive tournament – however, in terms of points gained, only two teams --- Portugal (54.19) and Republic of Ireland (44.20), ranked 23 and 24, respectively -- have managed to display higher digits than Bangladesh. In Asia, however, Bangladesh lead the pack, followed by 157-rank Syria with 21.82.

Apart from Bangladesh, Estonia accumulated 36.64 points to make a significant jump as they entered the top 100 by moving up 10 spots to occupy the 96th position, while Portugal and Ireland moved up four and two places, respectively.    

Meanwhile, USA, the defending World Cup champions, sit pretty at the top, ahead of Sweden, Germany, England, France, in that order.