Despite being inactive internationally for over three years Guyana’s Lady Jaguars has maintained their position in the latest
International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) rankings.
According to the recent rankings
published June 25th, the Lady Jaguars are ranked 88th in the world.
According to a release from FIFA, approximately 56 nations have been active albeit in a non-competitive manner, since the previous ranking published in the month of May.
There have been several changes on the list despite the dormancy of many members.
“In the two months since the last FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking was published, only about a third of its teams (56 of 167) have been in action, all being non-competition matches. Inspite of this, there are still some notable changes in the June 2021 edition of the Ranking, including on the podium.”
The Lady Jaguars maintain their 1244 points. They are sandwiched between 87th placed Senegal and 89th positioned Tonga and Cuba respectively.
The team was initially removed from the FIFA rankings owing to their dormancy on the international football circuit.
According to FIFA, national teams are relegated to the status of unranked or inherit a non-ranked standing, if they fail to feature in several competitive matches or have not competed and are inactive for the duration of 18 months.
FIFA elaborated, “Teams not having played more than five matches against officially ranked teams and/or inactive for more than 18 months and therefore do not appear on the table.”
The Lady Jaguars previous fixture occurred on May 28th 2018 at the National Track and Field Center, Leonora against Barbados during the CONCACAF Women’s Qualifiers. Prior to their unranked listing, the Lady Jaguars were positioned on 88th, which is their current placement.
However, the non-ranking rule has been amended as an unranked status is only acquired following 48 months or four years of inactivity, as well as no matches held against ranked opposition.
The Lady Jaguars highest ever ranking was 76th in March 2017.
Their worst ever placement on the world ladder was 92nd in December 2015. FIFA World Cup champion and CONCACAF giant, the United States of America, maintain their position atop the rankings.
The lowest ranked team is Mauritius at 167th.
The FIFA women’s rankings were introduced in 2003, with the first table published July 16th. The next scheduled release of the rankings is yet to be confirmed by FIFA.
Although inactive, the Lady Jaguars have remained in the public eye after dispatching a letter on April 7th to the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Charles Ramson Jr, highlighting the unequal allocation of resources by the Guyana Football Federation to the programme. This is inclusive of non-payment of match fees for international fixtures.
