The United States women's national team has regained its crown atop the FIFA Women's World Rankings after winning gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The USWNT experienced a sharp decline in June when the rankings were last released, falling from third to fifth place, the team's lowest placement since the rankings were introduced.
It's been 12 months since the four-time world champions topped the rankings.
Under new head coach Emma Hayes, who has been on the job for just 12 weeks, the U.S. women's team has regained its top spot after defeating Brazil in the Olympic final 1-0. It was the team's fifth gold medal and seventh Olympic medal overall.
Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses have also moved up a position, now sitting in second place after overtaking world champions Spain, who have dropped to third following their semi-final exit at the Olympic Games following a 2-0 defeat to Brazil.
The two top-ranked teams will meet in a friendly at Wembley Stadium on November 30, in a repeat of the match that ended 2-1 for the hosts in 2022.
The match between the U.S. women's national team and the Lionesses will be Hayes' first return to England as national team coach following her departure from Women's Super League (WSL) champions Chelsea.
The match will be a clash between two of the best coaches in women's football after Wiegman narrowly beat Hayes to win the FIFA Best Women's Coach award in 2023.
Meanwhile, France, who were second in the most recent count, have dropped eight places and now sit in 10th place. This comes after France topped Group A3 of the Euro 2025 qualifiers ahead of England, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland but failed to make it past the quarter-finals of the Olympic tournament.
Despite having a strong team, France have yet to win a major title and are now without coach Hervé Renard, who announced his departure following the team's early exit from the Olympics.
