Brazil leads the way after FIFA Futsal World Cup™ triumph

The second edition of the FIFA Futsal World Ranking, published on 11 October 2024, revealed some significant changes in both tables with 65 women’s matches and 179 matches played in the men’s game.



The most important event in recent months was undoubtedly the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024™ which produced 52 matches. The tournament was a resounding success with 150,000 spectators in attendance, live coverage broadcast in more than 175 territories and teams from all six confederations competing with five represented in the knockout rounds.



At the top

The event brought about noteworthy changes in the standings. Recently crowned world champions Brazil (1st, unchanged) have held on to the top spot and extended their lead over Portugal (2nd, unchanged), whose defence of their FIFA Futsal World Cup title came to a halt in the round of 16.



Three teams made significant progress in the top ten. These include runners-up Argentina (3rd, up 2), quarter-finalists Kazakhstan (5th, up 3) and bronze medallists Ukraine (9th, up 3). Ukraine leapfrogged France (10th, unchanged) after overcoming Les Bleus in the race for third place.



On the move

The biggest movers, however, are the teams that have climbed five or more places, namely Futsal World Cup participants Venezuela (15th, up 6; quarter-finalists), the Netherlands (26th, up 10; round of 16) and Panama (38th, up 6; group stage), as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina (48th, up 6), Chile (60th, up 31), Latvia (71st, up 16), Denmark (77th, up 5) and Montenegro (86th, up 6).



Although fewer games have been played in women’s futsal since May, there are still a number of notable changes in their ranking too. This is primarily due to the staging of the OFC qualifiers for the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup™ in 2025. Twelve matches were played in the OFC Futsal Women’s Nations Cup and the rest of the fixtures were all friendlies.



The teams that have made the most progress within the women’s top 20 are Italy (8th, up 2), Vietnam (11th, up 2), New Zealand (14th, up 12) and Uzbekistan (18th, up 6). The strides taken by Saudi Arabia (46th, up 5) are also worthy of note.



There are also five newcomers in this edition of the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Ranking, namely Fiji (62nd), Tahiti (66th), Norway (68th), the Solomon Islands (73rd) and Tonga (74th). All of these teams with the exception of Norway took part in the OFC qualifiers for the FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup in 2025.



Locally

Futsal Namibia was accepted into the Namibia Football Association in July 2023. The nation's first-ever national team "Brave 5" entered into the 2024 Futsal Africa Cup of Nations qualification and was drawn against Tanzania for a home-and-away series. The home leg, played on 3 February 2024 was Namibia's first-ever match and the team lost its debut 2–5. Namibia scored a 6–3 victory in the away leg played in Dar es Salam. Team Namibia advanced on away goals and qualified for the 2024 Futsal Africa Cup of Nations.



The Brave 5 is currently placed 139th on the FIFA ranking with 715.55 points. Morocco in 7th position (down from 6) with 1476.25 points is the highest ranked African country. After a long period of testing, FIFA has developed its first ever Futsal World Ranking. The system is based on an Elo-rating system. This approach relies on adding/subtracting points won or lost for a game to/from the previous totals.



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