THE Senior Women’s Football Team, commonly known as the ‘Lady Jags’, have moved 35 places up the FIFA Women’s World Ranking to 83, entering the top 100 bracket of countries in the world.

This movement results in the team being placed eighth among the CONCACAF Member Associations and fourth in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) following the relaunch of the programme in 2017.

In an invited comment, the team’s head coach Dr. Ivan Joseph said this is a first step in a continuous effort to raise the bar of women’s football, stating that “this is a great first step to validate the work the Federation and our female athletes have put into the programme.

“Our coaching staff look forward to continuing our efforts to advance the Lady Jaguars standing at the international level.”

Meanwhile, Ian Greenwood, Technical Director of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), said this is a positive step in the right direction, since the “relaunch of the Lady Jags programme required an innovative approach and we are very confident under Dr Ivan and his experienced staff it will continue to grow.

“The recent rankings show a very positive push in the right direction but also highlights that we must be consistent in our women’s development programmes as we still have a long way to go on this journey.”

“This is a fine example of what is possible when we believe in a mission that is beyond the might of one person, said GFF president Wayne Forde.

“The collective strategic focus of the executive committee, the GFF international support group (ISG), our technical staff, parents, and most importantly, our courageous young women, has produced early dividends, which have certainly elevated the credibility and direction of our Womens’ programme.

The GFF-Scotia Bank Academy Training Centres (ATC) are injecting a higher percentage of quality players into our national programme, which will result in the creation of many more scholarship opportunities for our girls in the coming years. This is truly a proud moment for our nation, Forde added.”

Since the relaunch of the women’s programme, the Lady Jags were engaged competitively in two tournaments – the CFU Women’s Challenge Series and the CONCACAF Caribbean Women’s Qualifiers. The team placed third in the CFU Women’s Challenge Series in March and tied nil-all against Barbados in May 2018 in their final qualifier match of the latter tournament.

In 2016, when the team qualified for their second major CONCACAF tournament – the Olympic Qualifiers, then Mark Rodrigues-coached team had a 79 ranking in the world, which remains their best position to date.