Final pre-WAFCON FIFA ranking: Nigeria stay Africa’s best as Morocco, Zambia slip

Nigeria’s Super Falcons will head into the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) as Africa’s highest-ranked team, Soccernet.ng reports.

This is after the reigning African champions retained their position in the latest FIFA Women’s World Ranking, the final update released before the continental tournament.

The defending WAFCON champions remain 36th in the world and continue to lead the African rankings. Nigeria’s recent friendly victories over Senegal earlier this month were not enough to improve their global position. The Super Falcons defeated the Lionesses 2-1 on June 5 before recording a more convincing 3-0 win three days later, but they remained behind Serbia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, who occupy the places immediately above them.

While unable to climb higher, Nigeria stayed ahead of teams such as Vietnam, Slovenia, the Philippines, Chinese Taipei and Jamaica in the world standings.

South Africa close in as WAFCON rivals lose ground

Among African nations, South Africa remain Nigeria’s closest challengers. Banyana Banyana moved up one place to 57th in the world after a dramatic international window in which they suffered a heavy 5-0 defeat to Japan before responding with an impressive 1-0 victory against the same opponents.

Ghana dropped one place to 60th globally but remain among Africa’s leading sides as they continue their search for a first WAFCON title. Morocco, runners-up at the previous edition and hosts of the upcoming tournament, slipped to 64th in the world rankings. Zambia also fell one position and are now ranked 65th, despite defeating Zimbabwe 3-0 in their most recent match.

Zambia are one of the teams Nigeria will face in the group stage of WAFCON 2026. The Super Falcons’ other opponents, Egypt and Malawi, are ranked 99th and 158th respectively.

The tournament, scheduled for July 25 to August 16 in Morocco, will feature 16 teams after CAF expanded the competition. It will also play a key role in shaping Africa’s representatives for the next FIFA Women’s World Cup.

At the top of the global rankings, Spain remain the world’s number one team, followed by the United States, Germany, England and Japan. France climbed to sixth ahead of Brazil, while Sweden, Canada and the Netherlands completed the top ten.