Lady Jags’ ranking improves across FIFA, CONCACAF and CFU

The senior women’s football team commonly known as the “Lady Jags” has moved 35 places up the FIFA Women’s World Ranking to 83, entering for the first time the top 100 bracket of countries in the world.
This movement has resulted in the team being placed eight among the CONCACAF member associations, and fourth in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) following re-launch of the programme in 2017.
In an invited comment, Head Coach of the “Lady Jags”, Dr. Ivan Joseph, said this is a first step in a continuous effort to raise the bar on women’s football.
“This is a great first step to validate the work of the Federation, and what our female athletes have put into the programme. Our coaching staff look to continuing our efforts to advance the Lady Jaguars’ standing at the international level,” Dr Joseph declared.
Ian Greenwood, Technical Director of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), said

this is a positive step in the right direction. “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.”
The International Women’s Coordinator and Coordinator of the International Supporters Group (ISG), Paul Beresford, noted that this new ranking is an achievement of the targets established by the ISG; which are, achieving top 100 in the FIFA Rankings, top 10 in CONCACAF, and top five in CFU respectively. I would like to thank the GFF for their innovative approach when faced with the challenge of relaunching a programme that had been dormant for two years, and the confidence placed in the coaching and support staff, especially Coach Ivan and his team, and members of the International Supporters Group (ISG) during this initial period.”
“This is a fine example of what is possible when we believe in a mission that is beyond the might of one person, said 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 Women’s programme.
“The GFF-Scotiabank 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 declared.
Since the relaunch of the women’s programme, the “Lady Jags” have been 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.