Lady Jags drop two spots in FIFA rankings despite recent supremacy

- team currently on five-game winning streak

Despite ending the year with an impressive record of five wins and a loss, the Lady Jaguars, the Guyana national senior women’s team, have dropped two ranking positions to 87th following the official publication of the FIFA December standings.

The Lady Jaguars sit at 1251.56 points, which is a 3.79 increase from their previous total. At the moment, they are sandwiched between 86th-ranked Malta and 88th-positioned Montenegro. Guyana is presently on a five-match winning streak following victories over Suriname [1-0, 1-0], Dominica [5-0, 9-0], and Antigua and Barbuda [3-0]. Their only loss occurred against Antigua and Barbuda [1-2].

The Lady Jaguars best ever ranking was 76th, achieved in March 2017. Conversely, their worst position was 142nd in July 2015. The team has also been unranked following a dormancy of two years.

The programme will return to the international circuit in February 2024 against the Dominican Republic in the Concacaf Gold Cup Preliminary Round Playoff.

The single-leg matches will take place at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, United States, on February 17th, 2024, immediately prior to the competition. A win for the Lady Jaguars will seal their appearance in the tournament and place them alongside hosts the United States, Mexico, and Conmebol outfit Argentina in Group A. The inaugural W Gold Cup will occur from February 20th to March 10th, 2024, in the United States.

The Women’s FIFA World

Rankings, which currently comprise a total of 200 teams and are headed by Spain, were introduced in 2003.

A points system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of all FIFA-recognised full international matches. The ranking system has been revamped on several occasions, generally responding to criticism that the preceding calculation method did not effectively reflect the relative strengths of the national teams.

The current version of the ranking structure was first used on August 16, 2018, adapted from the Elo rating system used in chess.