South Korea climbed to 17th in the FIFA women's world rankings, its highest position in 40 months, after winning bronze at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
South Korea moved up two places from June in the latest rankings released by FIFA on Tuesday.
It is the team's highest ranking since it was also 17th in June 2023.
Among Asian Football Confederation members, South Korea ranks fourth behind Japan at No. 5, North Korea at No. 12 and Australia at No. 15. South Korea also moved ahead of China, which fell from 16th to 18th.
South Korea's highest-ever FIFA ranking is 14th, most recently achieved in March 2019.
The national team, coached by Shin Sang-woo, won the bronze medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games earlier this month.
South Korea lost 2-0 to host Japan in the semifinals before beating China 1-0 in the bronze-medal match. It was South Korea's first Asian Games bronze medal in eight years and its first victory over China in 11 years.
Unlike the men's Asian Games soccer tournament, which is restricted primarily to U-23 players, the women's competition has no age limit and its matches are recognized as full internationals, meaning the results count toward the FIFA rankings.
Spain remained No. 1 in the world, followed by the United States, Germany, England and Japan.
FIFA will release its final women's world rankings of the year on Dec. 7.
(This article was produced with the assistance of AI. — Ed.)