Pakistan women’s football team rises in FIFA Rankings

ZURICH: Pakistan women’s football team on Friday, made a big leap in the latest FIFA World Rankings following their participation in the AFC Olympic Qualifiers.

As per the latest updates, the green shirts jumped four places to claim the 157th position in the FIFA Women’s rankings.

Pakistan edged Tajikistan in the AFC Olympic Qualifiers 1-0. The victory earned them valuable points which propelled them to 944.58 points.

The victory also powered Pakistan to finish third in Group E of round one of the qualifiers for the Paris Olympics 2024.

Pakistan women’s football team had an unwanted start to their Olympic Qualifier campaign as they succumbed to two back-to-back defeats – against the Philippines and Hong Kong – before finally tasting triumph against Tajikistan.

Earlier, Pakistan women’s team participated in the four-nation cup in Saudi Arabia.

The green shirts put on a dominant show in the tournament and finished second behind hosts Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia locked horns in an enthralling final and fought rigorously. The final, however, failed to conclude any result and ended in a goalless stalemate.

Saudi Arabia, consequently, topped the standings with seven points while Pakistan finished second in the tournament with four points.

It is worth mentioning that FIFA reinstated Pakistan’s women’s team to the FIFA rankings table in October 2022 after a six-year absence.

The development came after Pakistan women’s football team participated in the SAFF Women’s Championship 2022 and claimed a historic 7-0 victory over Maldives.

Following their reinstation in the rankings table, the green shirts occupied the 160th rank with a total of 928.4 points.

It is worth mentioning here that the SAFF Women’s Championship 2022 marked the first tournament in which Pakistan was taking part after FIFA lifted the ban on the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on June 29 2022.

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