The Super Falcons will head into the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations as Africa’s highest-ranked team after retaining 36th position in the latest FIFA Women’s World Ranking.

The rankings, released on Thursday, are the final FIFA update before the continental showpiece where Nigeria will be seeking a record-extending 11th WAFCON title at the tournament which holds from July 25 to August 16 in Morocco.

Despite recording back-to-back victories over Senegal in international friendlies earlier this month, the reigning African champions were unable to improve their position in the global standings. The Super Falcons beat the Lionesses of Teranga 2-1 on June 5 before completing a 3-0 victory three days later in Ikenne.

However, the results were not enough to move Nigeria above Serbia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, who remain directly ahead of the nine-time African champions in the rankings.

Nigeria remain comfortably ahead of teams such as Vietnam, Slovenia, the Philippines, Chinese Taipei and Jamaica, while maintaining their status as the highest-ranked women’s national team in Africa.

South Africa remain the Falcons’ closest challengers on the continent. Banyana Banyana climbed one place to 57th in the world rankings after recovering from a 5-0 defeat to Japan with an impressive 1-0 victory over the Asian giants during the international window.

Ghana slipped one spot to 60th in the world, while hosts Morocco dropped to 64th. Zambia, one of Nigeria’s opponents in the WAFCON group stage, also fell one place to 65th despite a 3-0 victory over Zimbabwe in their most recent outing.

The Super Falcons will face Zambia, Egypt and Malawi in Group C of the tournament. Egypt are ranked 99th in the world, while Malawi occupy 158th position.

The 2026 WAFCON will also serve as qualifiers for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil. The four semi-finalists will qualify for the World Cup while one more African team will hope to qualify through the play-offs.

At the top of the global rankings, Spain remain the world’s number one team ahead of the United States, Germany, England and Japan. France moved up to sixth place, while Brazil, Sweden, Canada and the Netherlands complete the top 10. (The PUNCH)

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