Scorchers’ victory over Zambia’s Copper Queens in last month’s international friendly match has helped them move up two places on the Fifa Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking released yesterday.
The Malawi Women’s National Football Team played two international friendly matches in Lusaka, Zambia during the Fifa window, losing 2-0 in the first one before bouncing back to claim a 3-2 victory in the second fixture.
The victory has earned the scorchers 12.35 points to move from 974.07 to 986.42 and rise to position 154 from 156 and 33rd in Africa.
The rise on the rankings is the first for the Scorchers in 12 months since 2023.
The last time the Scorchers moved up on the rankings was in August 2023 when they moved from position 159 to 156.
Before that, they also stayed on positon 159 for over a year from August 2022 to August 2023.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) competitions and communications director Gomezgani Zakazaka said inactivity was the reason behind the team’s ranking stagnation.
He said: “With the current administration’s policy that the team should play every Fifa window, we should expect them to rise even higher.”
Meanwhile, the loss to Malawi has cost Zambia as the Copper Queens are now down by two steps from 62 to 64 and fourth on the continent.
The Copper Queens total points have dropped from 1 412.37 to 1 400.02 having lost 12.35 points.
USA is still the world’s number one women’s football team followed by Fifa Women’s World Cup Spain on second and Germany on third.
Nigeria is Africa’s best team followed by South Africa, Morocco, Zambia, Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal and Algeria in the top 10.
Tanzania (138th) and Kenya (142nd) share the honour of being biggest climbers in terms of places, having both soared up seven spots.
Fifa in a statement said the March rankings had the highest number of teams since the rankings started.
The statement reads in part: “The latest instalment of the Fifa Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking marks a number of milestones. The first release of 2025 features more teams than ever before.”
