World Netball (WN) has released the latest WN World Rankings which follows the annual update performed to ensure that the rankings reflect the most current form of the international teams.
The rankings now include all matches played since the 1 July 2020, with those played in the last year, since the 1 March 2023, weighted at 100%, and matches between the 1 July 2020 and 28 February 2023 now weighted at 50%.
Matches played between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020, including those played at the Vitality Netball World Cup 2019, have been dropped from the WN World Rankings.
In the top four, the update sees Australia’s lead over second placed New Zealand extended from 16 to 20 rating points, as the Diamonds are enjoying a very successful period, which includes winning the Commonwealth Games Birmingham 2022 and the Netball World Cup 2023 (NWC2023).
England (third) and Jamaica (fourth) have also closed the gap on New Zealand , with the Roses and Sunshine Girls now both on the same rating (187) putting them just two rating points behind the Silver Ferns. England remain third by a fraction of a point.
Slightly further down the table, three pairs of teams swapped places with Uganda (sixth) overtaking Malawi (seventh), Northern Ireland (11th) moving above Trinidad & Tobago (12th) and Fiji (15th) edging ahead of Zambia (16th).
The biggest improvement in rating was by Papua New Guinea (PNG) who moved up four places to 29th with a rating of 34. This comes after PNG had a very successful 2023, finishing second in the Nations Cup to Singapore and fourth at the Pacific Games.
The update also sees the number of teams in the WN World Rankings decrease by one to 46, with Canada dropping off the table, as they have not played the minimum number of matches required for a world ranking. Canada joins the other eight countries with a rating but no ranking, and all will be able to re-join the rankings once they have played eight matches, the current minimum number of matches played since 1 July 2020, required for a ranking.
You can view the full WN World Rankings table here.
