After climbing six places in March and five places in June, the women’s national team climbed another five places in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking which was published last week. Malta is now ranked 88th.

In Europe, Malta is ranked 43rd – ahead of Luxembourg, Armenia, Georgia, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus, Azerbaijan and Moldova.

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In the Women’s World Cup preliminary round tournament, Malta drew 1-1 with Albania before beating Luxembourg 6-0 and Latvia 2-0 to reach the qualifying round proper.

Malta is now in for a tough tournament after being drawn with Israel, Serbia and UEFA Women’s EURO finalists Denmark and Iceland. Both teams finished third in their respective groups, therefore qualifying for the quarter-finals. Iceland lost 0-4 to hosts Sweden while Denmark made it to the semi-finals after defeating France on penalties. In the semi-finals, Denmark lost to Norway on penalties.

Qualifying matches start in October with an away match to Israel before Malta hosts Denmark in November.