As the last article for Women’s history month (Although we are a couple of days out of it now) I would like to show appreciation for the amazing international teams who despite pay gaps and less investments from their countries then their men’s teams, have become some of the greatest teams in the world along with their male counterparts.
10. France
With Rendie Renard and the 4th spot on the FIFA World Rankings, France have a strong team, although they have never won the World Cup, Olympics, or Women’s Euro and they have disappointed recently, as they were favorites for the last two world cups, but they didn’t progress very far in either year.
9. Canada
The last major international soccer tournament (Summer Olympics 2021) was won by this incredible team, which is a huge win for them, as they had never made it to an Olympic or World Cup final before. Also, fun fact: In 1998 Canada beat Puerto Rico 21-0 on Puerto Rico’s first international game.
8. England
The hosts (You can’t underestimate the power of home field advantage) for the upcoming Women’s Euro have a good chance at winning it, mainly because this English side has Lucy Bronze who won the SIlver ball in the 2019 World Cup and Ellen White, who tied Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe for the most goals in the tournament.
7. Netherlands
5th in FIFA World Rankings, 2nd place in 2019 World Cup, 1st in 2017 (Most recent) Women’s Euro. These finishes show that this team which has come out of the blue could be one of the best in a couple of years, soon enough, they could be #1 on the world rankings.
6. Brazil
One word: Marta. The greatest women’s player of all time who has been praised by Pele himself. She is the team’s captain and has led them to be one of the best in the world, and while no one, not even Marta could win them the World Cup, they are the only South American team to finish in the top four in the prestigious competition.
5. Japan
Japan are on 13th for the FIFA World Ranking, which in a top ten list is not a huge advantage. But what is an advantage is being the only team outside of Europe and the United States to win a world cup; this was won in epic fashion as they secured the win in a penalty shoot-out with the USWNT.
4. Norway
Norway are one of the greatest teams of all time, although they haven't done as well in recent years, with their last 1-4 place performance in the World Cup or the Olympics being in 2007 with a 4th place finish in the World Cup. The reason they are so high on this list is because they were the first Non-American team to win the Women's World Cup, and they hold the same record for the Olympics and they have the most medals in the Women’s Euro (although they are 2nd in gold medals).
3. Sweden
While Sweden don’t have much silverware to show for it (0 world cup or Olympic soccer medals, 1 Women’s Euro), they are an amazing team who are currently number 2 on the FIFA world rankings. The Swedes have been getting better recently, including barely losing the latest Olympic final in penalties, while also beating the United States team in the group stage.
2. Germany
Germany have had one of the best women’s teams in the world in the last 20 years. They also had many years with arguably the best European player in the game, Birgit Prinz, who helped them win 2 world cups. They have also won the most Women’s Euro tournaments.
1. United States
The USWNT are dominant in all things soccer, they have more World Cups than any other team in the world. They have also won more olympic gold medals in soccer than all other women’s teams combined, and they are the only team to win the gold multiple times.
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