Female Football: Sierra Leone Hits New Milestone in FIFA Rankings
Sierra Leone Female Football has hit another milestone after ranking 139th in the world and 23rd in Africa in the recent FIFA and CAF rankings.
The country ranked 140th in the previous world rankings.
Football pundits believe that the recent ranking is a sign that female football in the West African country is getting its required attention after several years in the doldrums.
According to the world football governing body, FIFA, the ranking is used to measure a team’s actual strength.
“In the FIFA Women’s World Ranking (WRR) teams are ranked according to a value that is a measure of their actual strength,” FIFA said after the ranking were announced.
They said the ranking took cognizant of several criteria including Result of the Match, Home vs away or neutral ground, importance of the match and Difference of WWR between the teams.
“Winning or losing of course is the most important criteria, but goal difference and goals scored are also taken into account,” the football body said.
Efforts to develop female football in Sierra Leone is on the surge with country organising their first ever female football league in 2022.
The winners in the inaugural competition, Mogbwemo Queens are set to participate in the 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League Preliminary Rounds.
If they sail through, they could be in the group stages of the region’s premier female football competition in Ivory Coast later this year.