USWNT Drops To Lowest FIFA Ranking Ever After Early Exit From World Cup

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Following its worst-ever performance in the Women's World Cup, the USWNT has fallen from its No. 1 world ranking spot to its lowest ranking in the 20-year history of FIFA's ranking system.

The U.S. Women's National Team had held the No. 1 spot since June 2017 amid the team's back-to-back Women's World Cup victories, but after being bounced out of the Round of 16 by Sweden, the Americans have fallen to third in the world.

The USWNT began the 2023 Women's World Cup with a 3-0 win against Vietnam but managed to score just one goal over its next three matches before falling to Sweden in penalties in the knockout stage.

Sweden is now the top-ranked team in the world after beginning the Women's World Cup ranked third. Spain, who beat England to win the Women's World Cup, moved up from sixth to the No. 2 spot. England now ranks fourth in the world rankings.

The USWNT has fallen out of the No. 1 spot in the FIFA World Rankings. (Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images)

Lindsey Horan recently explained that the team wasn't fully prepared for this year's World Cup, which is quite an admission for a co-captain of the USWNT to make.

We did not get the best out of every single individual. I don’t think everyone was fully prepared, and that’s on us as well.”

Horan also claimed players on the team “weren’t enjoying individually playing,” despite there being video evidence of the squad cheering and dancing after a disappointing draw against Portugal to get out of the group stage.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.