MIES (Switzerland) - The Belgian Cats are proudly reflecting on being able to call themselves a global top five team for only the second time in their history, while Nigeria are celebrating entering the top 10 after the latest update of the FIBA World Ranking Women, presented by Nike.
Refreshed in the wake of the FIBA Continental Cup competitions that have taken place during recent months, Belgium have stepped above Spain who they beat in one of the all-time classic Finals to wrap up consecutive FIBA Women's EuroBasket titles.
Meanwhile Nigeria were crowned FIBA Women's AfroBasket champions for an impressive fifth time in a row and D'Tigress have an extra cause for cheer after moving returning to the top 10. They jump up three places into 8th place and still remain the only African team to have ever occupied a top 10 place.
The other upwards mover inside the Top 10 are Brazil, who improve to 9th spot having made another Final of FIBA Women's AmeriCup. It was USA who won the prestigious trophy and they remain in pole position in the rankings.
Australia grabbed gold at FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2025 and that consolidates their 2nd place in the rankings, with hosts and third-place China also maintaining their top four status.
Elsewhere in the top 20 of the rankings, Italy rose up two places into 14th off the back of taking their first medal at the FIBA Women's EuroBasket in 30 years, with Germany, Türkiye and Czechia all up one place due to their respective positive performances.
Mali and Colombia both make big moves into the top 20 thanks to their eye-catching campaigns. Mali was the runner-up at FIBA Women's AfroBasket and they are elevated six places into 18th. Colombia are into 19th after a massive climb of 11 places - helped by a top five finish at FIBA Women's AmeriCup 2025.
There were a number of other double-digit climbers, including Lithuania who made a return to FIBA Women's EuroBasket for the first time in a decade and made the Quarter-Finals. They soared 14 places into 31st place.
One of the fairytale stories of the year was South Sudan making their memorable run to the podium at the FIBA AfroBasket Women 2025 on debut and claimed third-place. It's a feat which sees them rocket skywards by 31 places into 55th. That is an incredible new chapter considering they were not even inside the top 100 of the rankings only a year ago.
Lebanon find themselves up 13 steps on the ladder into 41st and Indonesia up 19 and into 60th after they competed at FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2025.
Finally, Iran were able to rise up 15 spots into 44th and Mongolia up 20 into 70th after their performance at FIBA Women's Asia Cup 2025, Division B.
For more information about the method used in the calculation of the FIBA World Ranking Women, please refer to the 'How it Works' section.
Click here to view the full FIBA World Ranking Women, presented by Nike.
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