Shepolopolo has made huge strides on the quarterly FIFA Women’s Charts released yesterday.
Bruce Mwape’s side was not only the biggest mover from the CAF zone but the entire FIFA Women’s charts after jumping nine places on the latest rankings released on September 27.
Shepolopolo leapt nine places from 119 to 110.
This follows their successes in the third quarter of 2019 that saw them finish runners-up at the 2019 COSAFA Cup in August and eliminate Zimbabwe from the 2020 Olympic qualifiers in the same period.
With that Olympic result, also saw Zimbabwe tumble nine places from 102 to 111.
Shepolopolo , though, are 12th in Africa where Nigeria are the continents highest ranked side at number 36, while Cameroon (46), Ghana(50), South Africa (55), Cote d’Ivoire (69), Equatorial Guinea (72), Morocco (82) ,Mali (83) ,Algeria (85), Senegal (87) and Congo -Brazzaville (105) complete the top eleven.
World Champions USA are number one, followed by Germany, Netherlands, and France while Sweden and England are tied at fifth.
Canada, Australia, North Korea and Japan round-up the top ten Women’s footballing nations while Brazil are outside at number 11.
And the move is a also massive boost for Shepolopolo and somewhat a consolation after the disappointment of their botched trip to the Morocco 2019 All- Africa Games football tournament in August following a logistical muddle.
However, Shepolopolo are still fourteen places off their highest benchmark set on the charts at number 96 in 2017 and 2009.
The year’s final ranking will be released in the final quarter on December 13.
Meanwhile, Shepolopolo are back in competitive action this coming week when they hosts Botswana on October 2 at Nkoloma Stadium in Lusaka and away on October 6 in Gaborone in an Olympic Games third round qualifier.
They are two more stages to go to decide Africa’s one –and-half representatives in Tokyo next summer.
