Football Ferns slip in FIFA world rankings after latest round of international games

posted in: Football Ferns, News

The Football Ferns have dropped a place in the FIFA women’s world rankings, and are now rated the 25th best international side.

The revised FIFA rankings have seen the Ferns fall from 16th in the world a decade ago, with a gradual decline to the current position.

The latest rankings take into account the recent losses to Portugal and Argentina.

New Zealand’s next opponents, Iceland and Nigeria, have both improved their rankings.

Iceland have jumped from 19th to 14th, while Nigeria have moved from 45th to 42nd.

Those games will be played Mardan Sports Complex, Antalya, Turkey.

READ MORE: Clegg and Foster named in Ferns squad for April internationals in Turkey >>>>

READ MORE: Football Ferns slip in FIFA world rankings after latest round of international games >>>>

READ MORE: Football Ferns to meet Nigeria as second international friendly is announced >>>>

READ MORE: Football Ferns to face 19th-ranked Iceland in Easter Weekend friendly >>>>

Nicknamed “Stelpurnar okkar (Our Girls)”, the Iceland team are unbeaten in 2023 after a 2-0 win against Scotland, a 0-0 draw with Wales and a 5-0 crushing of the Phillipines, all at the Pinatar Cup in February. Those games were played in Spain.

Nigeria have played three games in 2023, beating Colombia 1-0 and losing 1-0 to Mexico and to Costa Rica by the same score. The three games were part of the Women’s Revelations Cup tournament held in Mexico in February.

Fixtures

Game to be played on Saturday April 8, 1am (NZT)

New Zealand v Iceland

Game to be played on Wednesday April 12, 1am (NZT)

New Zealand v Nigeria

Jitka Klimková’s record

Head coach Jitka Klimková started her role in 2021 with New Zealand ranked 22nd at the time. Since then, here’s the record of the team:

Overall

Played: 21
Won: 3
Drawn: 3
Lost: 15
Goals scored: 10
Goals conceded: 43

Home

Played: 7
Won: 0
Drawn: 1
Lost: 6
Goals scored: 1
Goals conceded: 18

Away

Played: 14
Won: 3
Drawn: 2
Lost: 9
Goals scored: 9
Goals conceded: 25

v higher-ranked

Played: 15
Won: 1
Drawn: 1
Lost: 13
Goals scored: 7
Goals conceded: 39

v lower-ranked

Played: 6
Won: 2
Drawn 2:
Lost: 2
Goals scored: 3
Goals conceded: 4

Record at a glance

All the games; all the results

# indicates FIFA world ranking at the time of the fixture

Game played on October 23, 2021
Ottawa, Canada

#22 New Zealand 1 (Ria Percival)
#6 Canada 5

Game played on October 26, 2021
Montreal, Canada
#22 New Zealand 0
#6 Canada 1

Game played on November 27, 2021
Goyang, South Korea

#22 New Zealand 1 (Jacqui Hand)
#18 Korea Republic 2

Game was played on November 30, 2021
Goyang. South Korea

#22 New Zealand 2 (Gabi Rennie, Paige Satchell)
#18 Korea Republic 0

Game played on February 17, 2022
Carson, United States
She Believes Cup

#22 New Zealand 0
#16 Iceland 1

Game played on February 20, 2022
Carson, United States
She Believes Cup

#22 New Zealand 0
#1 United States 5

Game played on February 23, 2022
Frisco, United States
She Believes Cup

#22 New Zealand 0
#31 Czech Republic 0

Game played on April 8, 2022
Townsville, Australia

#22 New Zealand 1 (Anna Green)
#12 Australia 2

Game played on April 12, 2022
Canberra, Australia

#22 New Zealand 1 (Hannah Wilkinson)
#12 Australia 3

Game played on June 25, 2022
Oslo, Norway

#22 New Zealand 0
#11 Norway 2

Game played on June 28, 2022
Pinatar, Spain

#22 New Zealand 0
#31 Wales 0

Game played on September 2, 2022
Los Angeles, United States

#22 New Zealand 1 (CJ Bott)
#36 Mexico 0

Game played on September 6, 2022
Los Angeles, United States

#22 New Zealand 2 (Meikayla Moore, Ali Riley)
#53 Philippines 1

Game played on October 9, 2022
Nagano, Japan

#22 New Zealand 0
#11 Japan 2

Game played on November 12, 2022
Christchurch, New Zealand

#24 New Zealand 0
#17 Korea Republic 1

Game played on November 15, 2022
Christchurch, New Zealand

#24 New Zealand 1 (Olivia Chance)
#17 Korea Republic 1

Game played on January 18, 2023
Wellington, New Zealand

#24 New Zealand 0
#1 United States 5

Game played on January 21, 2023
Auckland, New Zealand

#24 New Zealand 0
#1 United States 4

Game played on February 17, 2023
Hamilton, New Zealand

#24 New Zealand 0
#22 Portugal 5

Game played on February 20, 2023
Hamilton, New Zealand

#24 New Zealand 0
#29 Argentina 2

Game played on February 23, 2023
Auckland, New Zealand

#24 New Zealand 0
#29 Argentina 1

Then and now

A comparison of the squad used for Klimková’s first Ferns squad (October 2021), and the squad chosen for her 21st game (February 2023):

Game 1

Game played on October 23, 2021
Ottawa, Canada

New Zealand 1 (Ria Percival)
Canada 5

Anna Leat
Katie Bown
Meikayla Moore
Ali Riley
CJ Bott
Betsy Hassett
Daisy Cleverley (Emma Rolston)
Ria Percival
Gabi Rennie (Rosie White)
Olivia Chance (Ava Collins)
Jacqui Hand (Hannah Blake)

Subs not used

Maggie Jenkins
Sam Tawharu
Erin Nayler
Tahlia Herman-Watt
Vic Esson
Aniela Jensen
Amelia Abbott

Unavailable

Abby Erceg

New to squad

Amelia Abbott, Aniela Jensen, Ava Collins, Jacqui Hand, Sam Tawharu and Tahlia Herman-Watt

Game 21

Game played on February 23, 2023
Auckland, New Zealand

New Zealand 0
Argentina 1

Erin Nayler
Claudia Bunge
Meikayla Moore
Katie Bowen (Michaela Foster)
Grace Neville
Malia Steinmetz (Kate Taylor)
Betsy Hassett
Daisy Cleverley (Ava Collins)
Gabi Rennie (Paige Satchell)
Grace Jale
Hannah Wilkinson (Indiah Paige-Riley)

Subs not used

Mackenzie Barry
Liz Anton
Brianna Edwards
Murphy Sheaff

Unavailable

Ali Riley, Rebekah Stott, Olivia Chance, CJ Bott, Anna Leat, Vic Esson, Grace Wisnewski

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