While the eyes of the planet have been trained on the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 for the last couple of weeks, women’s football has not stood still. Some 48 women’s internationals have been played since October, resulting in some significant changes in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking.

The U.S. (1st, -) holding on to first place, which has been theirs since 2017. That said, the gap between them and their new closest challengers, Germany (2nd, plus 1), is narrowing, with the U.S. having lost three of their last four matches, including a 2-1 defeat to the Germans.

Some 187 FIFA member associations featured in the December 2022 Ranking, out of 211 in all, the highest number ever recorded at the end of a calendar year.

The next FIFA Women’s World Ranking will be published on 24 March 2023.

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Iran qualified for their first-ever AFC Women’s Asian Cup, defeating Bangladesh and Jordan, respectively. They made history by creating a ground-breaking milestone in the women’s game.

“Thanks God we did well in the competition in Jordan,” Ghanbari said at the beginning of her interview with Tehran Times.

“It was a difficult group for us. All the people talk about our win about Jordan, but the game against Bangladesh was so difficult. Bangladesh have progressed a lot during the recent years, and they were a hard-working team,” she said.

Iran’s 4-2 win over Jordan on penalties after a goalless draw at Bunyodkor Stadium in Uzbekistan and leading Group G is considered the biggest surprise of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers so far.

“Jordan are a great team. We were in good condition in the match against them and could control the game. Iran had chances to score, but it went to stressful penalty shootouts. Fortunately, we did better in penalties,” Ghanbari said.

Ghanbari, one of the best goal scorers in women’s football, was surprisingly on the bench in both national team games.

“It was the head coach’s decision, and I accepted. However, I was completely ready and had no injuries. But the most important thing is the success of the team. I have no idea about the reason behind the coaching staff’s decision,” said the forward of the Shahrdari Bam.

At the beginning of 2021, Iran had been taken out of the latest FIFA rankings list entirely due to not playing an international game for more than one year. Now the team are back in the ranking and sit in 72nd place.

“It was a tragic time for our football,” Ghanbari said, “We lost time, and we lost our hopes, while the other teams were working on their plans.”

“Fortunately, with the changes in the football federation, we again played in international matches and could back in the FIFA Ranking. I appreciate what Mr. Azizi Khadem, the federation president, and Mrs. Shohereh Musavi, head of women’s department, have done to rebuild the national team,” Ghanbari added.

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The win brought Maryam Irandoost’s side level with Jordan at the top of Group G, with the winner of Saturday’s clash between the two sides to decide who advances to January’s final tournament in India.

Iranian captain Behnaz Taherkhani scored twice from the penalty spot, with Melika Motevalli, Golnoosh Khosravi and Hajar Dabbaghi also finding the back of the net to eliminate a Bangladesh side which had lost their first match 5-0 against Jordan on Sunday.

The 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup will be held in India from Jan. 20 to Feb. 6.

Japan are the defending champions.

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