Dozen new teams enter FIFA Futsal Women’s World Ranking as game’s popularity grows

• Brazil remain top of both men’s and women’s futsal standings
• No fewer than 95 women’s matches played as line-up for first-ever FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup™ finalised
• Ranking underpins pot allocation for tournament draw on 15 September

The latest edition of the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Ranking features 12 new teams, reflecting the booming popularity of the game ahead of the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup™ in the Philippines, which kicks off this coming November. Brazil remain top of the ranking, which is the basis for the pot allocation that will be used when the draw for the eagerly anticipated tournament is held on 15 September.

More and more FIFA Member Associations are competing in women’s futsal. This is illustrated by the fact that 92 teams now appear in the standings, following the entries of Canada (74th), Mexico (75th), Panama (79th), Tanzania (82nd), Cameroon (84th), Angola (85th), Egypt (86th), Honduras (88th), Madagascar (89th), Namibia (90th), Guinea (91st) and Cuba (92nd).

In addition, Guatemala, who were regularly in action in the 2010s but, owing to a hiatus, had yet to make their debut in the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Rankingfollowing its formal introduction last year, are up and running again and have entered the table in 39th.

A total of 95 matches have been played since the previous instalment of the ranking, which was released in April. This brings the total played in 2025 to 206 women’s matches and 165 men’s games. The latest instalment of fixtures have included 57 qualifiers for the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup 2025™, rounding off the line-up for the tournament, which will take place from 21 November to 7 December. The AFC, CAF, Concacaf and OFC qualifying competitions have all been contested in recent months, with Japan, IR Iran, Thailand, Morocco, Tanzania, Canada, Panama and New Zealand sealing their spots in the Philippines.

Having played 15 games, Morocco have been the most active women’s team during this period and have got their reward by making the biggest leap in the world pecking order. The Atlas Lionesses have roared up from 47th to 31st after hosting and winning this year’s Women’s Futsal Africa Cup of Nations, which acted as the CAF qualifying event for the global showpiece.

Spain and Portugal continue to be Brazil’s closest pursuers at the summit of the standings, while Thailand and Japan have both moved up one place, into fourth and fifth, respectively.

The Brazilians also remain out ahead in the men’s ranking; indeed, there has been no change in the top 5, with Portugal, Spain, Argentina and IR Iran having held onto the next four spots. Sweden (74th, up 17), Moldova (66th, up 14), and Bahrain (69th, also up 14) are the biggest climbers.

After a long period of testing and development, FIFA launched the official Futsal World Ranking in May last year, and this release marks the fourth instalment. The standings are based on an Elo rating system that relies on adding points to a team’s previous total if they win a match and subtracting them in the event of a loss, with the number of points being partly determined by the relative rankings of the teams involved.

EXPLAINER: How the ranking is calculated

The FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup 2025 is also now included in the new FIFA Futsal International Match Calendar 2025-2028, thereby guaranteeing the release of players for the tournament.

Best-placed teams by confederation: