Canadian women fall again in FIFA world rankings, closing out the year at No. 10

Canada head coach Casey Stoney looks on during the warm-up ahead of their international friendly soccer match against Haiti in Montreal on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes (Graham Hughes)

The Canada women continue to slide down the FIFA rankings, dropping one place to No. 10.

The Canadians started the year at No. 6, falling one spot in each of the March, June and August rankings. That trend continued in the end-of-year ranking released Thursday.

The most recent drop reflects four straight losses since the last rankings were released on Aug. 7. The Canadian women were beaten 1-0 by both No. 25 Switzerland and the 11th-ranked Netherlands in the October international window and 3-0 and 1-0 by No. 8 Japan in the November window.

Canada ends the year on a five-game losing streak and mired in a 454-minute goal drought dating back to a 4-1 win over No. 50 Haiti on June 27 in Toronto, the team’s last win.

The Canadian women went 6-6-1 this year under coach Casey Stoney.

“For the players, we know there are bits we need to get better at, 100 per cent. We all know that,” Canada assistant coach Natalie Henderson said after Canada’s 1-0 loss to Japan on Dec. 2. “We need to raise our standards on and off the pitch.”

Henderson ran the team during the most recent international window while Stoney was back in England with her ailing mother.

Canada has been part of the FIFA top 10 since March 2016, after finishing out 2015 at No. 11. Thursday marks the fourth time it has ranked 10th since then.

The Canadian women’s highest-ever position was No. 4, a ranking last held in March 2018. Canada’s lowest ranking was 13th, where it languished in December 2005, September 2009 and lastly in August 2010.

Spain, which bumped the U.S. out of top spot in August, remains No. 1 after retaining its UEFA Women’s Nations League title. The Americans stay second while Germany, runner-up to Spain in the Nations League earlier this month, vaults two places to No. 3 at the expense of Sweden which, after its Nations League semifinal loss to Spain, slips two rungs to No. 5 below unchanged England.

Brazil climbs one spot to No. 6, dropping France to No. 7 with Japan unchanged at No. 8. North Korea leapfrogs Canada to No. 9.

Nicaragua (No. 96), Burkina Faso (No. 118) and American Samoa (No. 137) each climb 16 places in the new rankings.

Mali (No. 85) and Egypt (No. 101) are going the other way, falling six places apiece while Paraguay (No. 46) slips out of the top 50 with a five-place drop. India (No. 67), Cameroon (No. 70) and the Solomon Islands (No. 77) all fall four places.

Poland (No. 24), Venezuela (No. 42), Cabo Verde (No. 119) and Saudi Arabia (No. 161) reach all-time highs.

Chad and Libya enter the ranking for the first time at No. 156 and No. 187, respectively, bringing the number of member associations in the women’s standings to a record 198.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2025

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press