1968-2004 Women's International Soccer Games and Rankings

FIFA women’s international rankings officially started in the summer of 2003. The new world standard was built off the previous 30 years but unfortuantely FIFA didn’t retroactively release rankings, nor make it clear what games they were and weren’t counting. So after a few years of compiling as many games as possibly, Everybody Soccer presents a retroactive ranking system that will hopefully shed some light on where nations stood prior to 2003.

Download the Google Spreadsheet to make similar graphs.

Since it’s unclear what games FIFA did and didn’t count, any international matches were included in this project as FIFA-recognized teams weren’t a high priority for most of the 20th century either way. FIFA’s top ten teams at the start of 2005 are roughly the same from the ones displayed here with minor differences. So the methodology seems to have checked out.

To simply peruse the data and look at various games or yearly rankings, click here for a web page. However, if you’re looking to work with the data, click here to open a Google Spreadsheet that you and copy and download.

The top ten teams in the world from 1971 to 2005 (counting at the start of the year) are listed below for quick reference. Each year shows the top ten teams as of January 1st of the respective year.

For any errors in the data, or if you simply have questions about the information or spreadsheet, please use the contact form to reach out with any inquiries or helpful corrections.

National Rankings 1971–2005

National Team Rankings

1971 to 2005

Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Jan 1971DenmarkItalyCzechiaGermanyMexicoSwitzerlandFranceEnglandArgentinaAustria
Jan 1972DenmarkItalyCzechiaSwedenMexicoNetherlandsGermanyFranceSwitzerlandArgentina
Jan 1973DenmarkItalyCzechiaSwedenMexicoNetherlandsGermanySwitzerlandSerbiaFrance
Jan 1974DenmarkItalySwedenCzechiaMexicoGermanyNetherlandsSwitzerlandSerbiaFrance
Jan 1975DenmarkItalySwedenCzechiaMexicoGermanyNetherlandsSwitzerlandSerbiaEngland
Jan 1976DenmarkItalyCzechiaSwedenMexicoNetherlandsGermanySwitzerlandSerbiaEngland
Jan 1977DenmarkItalyCzechiaSwedenMexicoNetherlandsEnglandGermanySerbiaBelgium
Jan 1978DenmarkItalySwedenCzechiaMexicoEnglandNetherlandsGermanyTaiwanSerbia
Jan 1979DenmarkItalySwedenCzechiaMexicoNetherlandsTaiwanGermanyBelgiumEngland
Jan 1980DenmarkItalySwedenCzechiaMexicoNetherlandsEnglandTaiwanGermanyBelgium
Jan 1981DenmarkItalySwedenCzechiaMexicoNetherlandsTaiwanEnglandGermanyBelgium
Jan 1982DenmarkItalySwedenCzechiaMexicoTaiwanGermanyEnglandNew ZealandSerbia
Jan 1983DenmarkSwedenItalyCzechiaMexicoTaiwanEnglandGermanyNorwayBelgium
Jan 1984DenmarkSwedenItalyCzechiaMexicoTaiwanEnglandGermanyNorwaySerbia
Jan 1985SwedenDenmarkItalyCzechiaEnglandMexicoTaiwanGermanyNorwayBelgium
Jan 1986SwedenDenmarkItalyEnglandCzechiaMexicoTaiwanNorwayUSANetherlands
Jan 1987ItalySwedenEnglandCzechiaDenmarkNorwayTaiwanUSANetherlandsGermany
Jan 1988SwedenEnglandItalyTaiwanNorwayDenmarkCzechiaGermanyNetherlandsUSA
Jan 1989NorwayItalySwedenDenmarkTaiwanEnglandGermanyCzechiaUSABrazil
Jan 1990SwedenNorwayGermanyDenmarkItalyChinaTaiwanEnglandUSACzechia
Jan 1991SwedenGermanyChinaDenmarkNorwayUSAItalyCzechiaBrazilEngland
Jan 1992USASwedenNorwayChinaGermanyDenmarkItalyNetherlandsCzechiaEngland
Jan 1993USANorwaySwedenGermanyChinaNetherlandsCzechiaBrazilEnglandEngland
Jan 1994USANorwaySwedenChinaGermanyDenmarkItalyCzechiaBrazilEngland
Jan 1995USANorwayGermanySwedenChinaDenmarkItalyFranceEnglandCanada
Jan 1996NorwayUSAGermanySwedenChinaDenmarkItalyEnglandBrazilFrance
Jan 1997USANorwayChinaGermanySwedenBrazilItalyDenmarkFranceEngland
Jan 1998USANorwayGermanyChinaSwedenItalyBrazilDenmarkFranceEngland
Jan 1999USANorwayChinaGermanySwedenItalyBrazilDenmarkFranceNetherlands
Jan 2000USAChinaNorwayGermanyBrazilSwedenItalyRussiaFranceNigeria
Jan 2001NorwayUSAChinaGermanyBrazilSwedenItalyRussiaFranceCanada
Jan 2002NorwayGermanyUSAChinaSwedenBrazilNorth KoreaFranceDenmarkRussia
Jan 2003USAGermanyNorwayChinaSwedenBrazilNorth KoreaFranceDenmarkItaly
Jan 2004GermanyUSASwedenNorwayChinaUSABrazilFranceNorth KoreaCanada
Jan 2005USAGermanyNorwayBrazilSwedenFranceChinaDenmarkNorth KoreaItaly
National team rankings • 1971 to 2005

Biggest Upsets

date - scoreline - setting (location) +elo change

  1. 7/20/86 - Japan (3) vs. Mexico (0) - Mundialito (Japan) +86

  2. 10/11/78 - Thailand (4) vs. England (0) - World Invitation (Taiwan) +83

  3. 4/11/03 - Bolivia (7) vs. Chile (1) - CONMEBOL Qualifying (Bolivia) +74

  4. 10/20/78 - Australia (5) vs. Thailand (0) - World Invitation (Taiwan) +73

  5. 10/15/81- Netherlands (0) vs. Norway (3) - World Invitation (Taiwan) +72

  6. 9/24/03 - Norway (1) vs. Brazil (4) - World Cup (USA) +70

  7. 6/24/99 - Korea DPR (3) vs. Denmark (1) - World Cup (USA) +70

  8. 12/21/86 - Thailand (0) vs. Japan (4) - AFC Champ (Hong Kong) +69

  9. 10/16/81 - Netherlands (0) vs. Finland (5) - World Invitation (Taiwan) +69

  10. 10/3/90 - Japan (3) vs. Chinese Taipei (1) - Asian Games (Japan) +69

  11. 11/29/91 - Sweden (4) vs. Germany (0) - World Cup (Sweden) +69

  12. 7/6/97 - Norway (0) vs. Italy (2) - Euro (Norway) +67

  13. 12/4/93 - Japan (6) vs. Chinese Taipei (1) - AFC Champ (Malaysia) +67

  14. 3/11/01 - USA (0) vs. Canada (3) - Algarve (USA) +65

  15. 12/12/87 - Canada (0) vs. Australia (2) - World Invitation (Canada) +65

  16. 10/5/03 - USA (0) vs. Germany (3) - World Cup (USA) +65

  17. 6/9/03 - India (6) vs. Uzbekistan (0) - AFC Champ (Thailand) +64

  18. 9/25/95 - South Korea (6) vs. Uzbekistan (0) - AFC Champ (Malaysia) +62

  19. 7/4/99 - Norway (0) vs. China PR (5) - World Cup (USA) +62

  20. 12/14/01 - Korea DPR (3) vs. China PR (1) - AFC Champ (Taiwan) +62

  21. 11/16/91 - China PR (4) vs. Norway (0) - World Cup (China PR) +61

  22. 7/2/89 - West Germany (4) vs. Norway (1) - Euro (West Germany) +61

  23. 4/14/83 - Philippines (2) vs. Hong Kong (0) - AFC Champ (Thailand) +60

  24. 11/27/91 - Germany (2) vs. USA (5) - World Cup (Germany) +59

  25. 5/25/91 - Hong Kong (2) vs. Singapore (0) - AFC Champ (Japan) +59