The Bangladesh national women’s football team has leapt ahead 11 places in the latest FIFA rankings, source BFF online.
The Bengal girls are now ranked 103rd among 177 nations with 1003 points up from their previous 114th with 987 points.
Among the South Asian nations, Bangladesh is the third position trailing India and Nepal. India is the top ranked South Asian team at 56th position with 1404 points while Nepal is 95th with 1134 points.
Among the other SAARC countries Sri Lanka is ranked at 105, Maldives 107, Afghanistan 109, Bhutan 113 and Pakistan is at 116. Meanwhile, Germany toppled USA to claim the top spot with 2108 points but the Americans are literally breathing down their neck with 2105 points.
France retained the third spot with 2072 points. Bangladesh’s best ever FIFA ranking is 100 which they achieved back in 2013.
However, the team’s performance was not at the same level as it is now. Currently, the team is on a great run and making a statement at top level competitions.
Since 2015, the performance graph of the women’s team has been on the up which is also evident in the rankings.
In December last year, the team had a great run in the SAFF Women’s Championship finishing as runners-up for the first time in their history.
In that tournament, the team registered huge wins over Afghanistan (6-0) and Maldives (6-0) and lost a feisty final to India by 3 goals to 1. More recently, the team went on a development tour in Singapore.
Despite losing to Singapore and Malaysia by narrow margins, the girls played great football and caught everyone’s eye.
The latest leap in the FIFA rankings does justice to the team’s recent performance and will surely inspire the girls for more success.
