The United States women’s national soccer team is ending a roller-coaster year in a familiar spot.
The USWNT finished the year at No. 1 in the FIFA world rankings, a spot they’ve held for all but 22 months since 2008. But this comes after they spent five months of this year out of the top three, an unheard of nadir for the four-time World Cup champions, before returning to No. 1 after winning gold at the Paris Olympics.
Reigning World Cup champion Spain is at No. 2 in the rankings released Friday, while Germany moved up to No. 3. European champion England and Sweden round out the top five.
The USWNT has pretty much owned the top of the FIFA rankings since they began in 2003, occupying the No. 1 spot without interruption from June 2017 until August 2023. In fact, they’d never dropped below No. 2 until August 2023, when they fell to No. 3 on the heels of their worst showing ever at a World Cup or Olympics.
The Americans rebounded to finish 2023 at No. 2, but fell to fourth in the March rankings after their first-ever loss on home soil to Mexico. When the June rankings came out, the USWNT had dropped to fifth.
But the arrival of Emma Hayes has rejuvenated the team. She is unbeaten (13 wins, two ties) in her first 15 games as head coach. That includes six wins at the Paris Games, which culminated with the Americans beating old foe Brazil 1-0 for their fifth Olympic gold medal.