New Zealand's defender #04 CJ Bott (L) fights for the ball with Colombia's midfielder #08 Marcela Restrepo during the women's group A football match between New Zealand and Colombia of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Photo: AFP / Oliver Chassignole
New Zealand have dropped out of the top 30 FIFA Women's World Ranking for the first time since rankings began, after three defeats at the Olympic Games.
The Football Ferns, the highest-ranked team in Oceania, have dropped three positions to 31.
The FIFA Women's world rankings were introduced in 2003.
Twelve months after being ousted from the top of the World Rankings, USA (first, up four) have made returned to the summit following their victorious Olympic campaign.
The Stars and Stripes claimed their fifth Olympic gold medal in Paris, and their first since London 2012, by edging past Brazil 1-0 in the final.
Papua New Guinea made a small recovery to 56 from their record low point in June, while the Solomons Islands reached a new top ranking at 86.
England (2nd, up one) have climbed one spot at the expense of Spain (3rd, down two), who are now in third after seeing their bid for Olympic glory ended with defeat to Brazil in the semi-finals, which was promptly followed by another reverse at the hands of Germany (fourth) in the bronze-medal match.
The Germans, meanwhile, have held on to their position in the ranking, as have Japan (seventh), who were beaten in the quarter-finals by USA.
No team has fallen more than France (10th, down eight), however, with Les Bleues sliding from second place to 10th following an Olympic campaign in which they toiled in Group A before succumbing to Brazil in the quarter-finals.
A surprise loss to Republic of Ireland in July in the build-up to Paris 2024 also did not help, and the French now find themselves in their lowest position since September 2019.
