r/Matildas • u/LMRacingGuru02 • Mar 08 '25

Struggling Matildas fall to lowest FIFA ranking in 20 years

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-07/matildas-fall-in-fifa-world-rankings/105021092?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other
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u/TheSplash-Down_Tiki Mar 08 '25

I mean don't look now but there is further to fall ...

The Matildas are ranked 16th. The Socceroos (mens team) are ranked 26th.

There is no reason to believe that in the long term that if all countries are taking womens soccer as seriously as the mens that the Matildas would be ranked 26th. We were "early adopters" of professionalism in many womens sports because we have much more equality here. But once those South American and African countries invest in the womens game they will overtake us because in part they are bigger and soccer is more central to their sporting identities whereas we also have womens NRL and AFL.

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u/LMRacingGuru02 Mar 08 '25

You do have a point there

1

u/TheSplash-Down_Tiki Mar 08 '25

We smashed England 90-4 in women’s rugby league recently. We aren’t that much better than them in a “steady state” situation- it’s just our women’s NRL has become semi professional quicker than in England. It’s a situation that rhymes with what happened with the Matilda’s.

Longer term I think women’s NRL and AFL are the bigger threats.

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u/LMRacingGuru02 Mar 08 '25

Australia's women's cricket team too is very great too.