The head coach of the Super Falcons, Randy Waldrum said he was surprised over the position of his team in the latest FIFA women’s rankings.
The latest FIFA women’s ranking which was released on Friday saw the Super Falcons move from the 40th spot in the world to the 32nd spot which means the country improved on the ranking by moving eight places.
This improvement came after the Super Falcons defeated the co-hosts of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Australia, 3-2 during the tournament. They also recorded draws against reigning Olympic champions, Canada, and the Republic of Ireland.
Falcons progressed to the next round of the 2023 Women’s World Cup in the second spot of Group B but bowed out to England in round 16 via penalties.
After such an unprecedented performance, coach Randy Waldrum expected a better placement of the Super Falcons in the world rankings as they continued to hold the first spot in Africa.
“Must say I am a little surprised at this, to say the least…not in a positive way”, the coach tweeted after FIFA released the rankings.
As a follow-up to his tweet, Randy Waldrum told Punch that the Super Falcons who have won the African women’s championship a record nine times deserve to fall at least in the top 20 in the world rankings.
He said, “Absolutely, we should be much higher after getting out of the group of death, not losing any game in 90 minutes, drawing against the defending Olympic Gold medalist (ranked 7), defeating host nation (ranked 10), draw against Ireland (ranked 21), and draw against European Champions England (ranked 3), we should at least be in the top 20.”
