The Canadian women continue to slide down the FIFA rankings, dropping one spot to 10th place.
Canadians started the year in sixth place, down one position in the March, June and August rankings. That trend continued in the year-end rankings released Thursday.
The latest drop reflects four losses in a row since the last rankings were published on August 7. The Canadians lost 1-0 to No. 25 Switzerland and No. 11 Netherlands in the October international window, and 3-0 and 1-0 to No. 8 Japan in the November window.
Canada ends the year on a five-game losing streak and has been mired in a 454-minute drought since a 4-1 win over No. 50 Haiti on June 27 in Toronto, the team's last victory.
This year, the Canadian women, under the leadership of coach Casey Stoney, showed a record of 6-6-1.
“For the players, we know there are areas where we need to get better, 100 percent. 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 captained the team during the last international window while Stoney returned to England with her ill mother.
Canada has been ranked among FIFA's top 10 nations since March 2016, finishing 2015 in 11th place. Thursday marks the fourth time since she finished in 10th place.
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 finally August 2010.
Spain, which knocked the United States out of top spot in August, remains first, retaining its UEFA Women's Nations League title. The Americans remain second while Germany, who finished runners-up to Spain in the Nations League earlier this month, moved up two places to third at the expense of Sweden, who dropped two places to fifth below unchanged England after their Nations League semi-final defeat to Spain.
Brazil moved up one place to 6th place, dropping France to 7th place, while Japan remained unchanged in 8th place. North Korea overtook Canada and ended up in 9th place.
Nicaragua (96th), Burkina Faso (118th) and American Samoa (137th) each moved up 16 places in the new rankings.
Mali (85th) and Egypt (101st) follow a different path, dropping six places each, while Paraguay (46th) slipped out of the top 50, dropping five places. India (67th), Cameroon (70th) and Solomon Islands (77th) dropped four places.
Poland (24th), Venezuela (42nd), Cape Verde (119th) and Saudi Arabia (161st) reached all-time highs.
Chad and Libya enter the rankings for the first time at 156th and 187th 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.
