The Football Ferns celebrate a goal by McKenzie Barry in their Olympics pool game against Canada. However, their three matches at the 2024 Games ended in defeat and they have slipped down the Fifa Women's World Ranking. Photo / Getty Images
By RNZ
New Zealand has dropped out of the top 30 Fifa Women’s World Ranking for the first time since rankings began, after three defeats at the Olympic Games.
The Football Ferns, the highest-ranked team in Oceania, have fallen three positions to 31.
The Fifa Women’s World Ranking system was introduced in 2003.
Twelve months after being ousted from the top of the rankings, USA (first, up four) have returned to the summit after their victorious Olympic campaign.
The Stars and Stripes claimed their fifth Olympic gold medal in Paris, and their first since London 2012, by beating Brazil 1-0 in the final.
Papua New Guinea made a small recovery to 56 from their record low point in June, while the Solomon Islands reached a new top ranking at 86.
England (second, up one) have climbed one spot at the expense of Spain (third, down two), who are now in third after seeing their bid for Olympic glory ended with defeat to Brazil in the semifinals, which was followed by another reverse at the hands of Germany (fourth) in the bronze-medal match.
The Germans, meanwhile, have held on to their position in the ranking, as have Japan (seventh), who were beaten in the quarter-finals by USA.
No team has fallen more than France (10th, down eight), however, with Les Bleues sliding from second place to 10th following an Olympic campaign in which they toiled in Group A before succumbing to Brazil in the quarter-finals.
A surprise loss to Republic of Ireland in July in the build-up to Paris 2024 also did not help, and the French now find themselves in their lowest position since September 2019.
- RNZ
Beverly Priestman was sacked by Canada after the Olympic drone scandal.