How does India fare compared to top five European nations in terms of games played in last five years?
Sweden is the highest-ranked women's football team in Europe and the second-highest ranked team in the world after the US Women's National Team (USWMNT).
In the last women's world cup, which was held in 2019, the Swedish women finished third. They lost to Netherlands 1-0 in the semifinal and then defeated England 2-1 in the third-place play-off.
Sweden is followed by Germany and France in the second and third position in Europe respectively. Netherlands, who had finished runners-up in the 2019 World Cup losing to USA in the final, are in fourth place and England are currently occupying the fifth spot in the UEFA rankings.
Here, we take a look at the number of matches the top five European countries played in the last five years and compared to them, how many matches did the top five Asian teams play along with the Indan women's team.
If we consider 2021, India played 12 international matches which was the same as the matches played by Germany, who are ranked No.3 in the world. In fact, India played more matches than England (ranked eighth in the world) who played only 9 games.
European teams on an average play 18 to 20 international matches in a calendar year.
How many matches did Sweden play? (2017-2021)
Year | Matches | Competitions |
|---|---|---|
2017 | 18 | Friendlies (7), 2019 World Cup Qualifiers (3), UEFA Women's Euro 2017 (4), Algarve Cup (4) |
2018 | 13 | Friendlies (4), 2019 World Cup Qualifiers (5), Algarve Cup (4) |
2019 | 17 | Friendlies (4), UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Qualifiers (3), 2019 World Cup (7), Algarve Cup (3) |
2020 | 8 | UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Qualifiers (5), Algarve Cup (3) |
2021 | 18 | 2023 World Cup Qualifiers (5), Friendlies (7), Tokyo Olympics (6) |
How many matches did Germany play? (2017-2021)
Year | Matches | Competitions |
|---|---|---|
2017 | 14 | Friendlies (3), 2019 World Cup Qualifiers (4), UEFA Women's Euro 2017 (4), SheBelieves Cup (3) |
2018 | 11 | Friendlies (4), 2019 World Cup Qualifiers (4), SheBelieves Cup (3) |
2019 | 14 | Friendlies (5), UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Qualifiers (4), 2019 World Cup (5) |
2020 | 8 | UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Qualifiers (4), Friendlies (1), Algarve Cup (3) |
2021 | 12 | 2023 World Cup Qualifiers (6), Friendlies (6) |
How many matches did France play? (2017-2021)
Year | Matches | Competitions |
|---|---|---|
2017 | 17 | Friendlies (10), UEFA Women's Euro 2017 (4), SheBelieves Cup (3) |
2018 | 10 | Friendlies (7), SheBelieves Cup (3) |
2019 | 16 | UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Qualifiers (2), Friendlies (9), 2019 World Cup (5) |
2020 | 9 | UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Qualifiers (6), Tournoi de France (3) |
2021 | 14 | 2023 World Cup Qualifiers (6), Friendlies (5), Tournoi de France (3) |
How many matches did Netherlands play? (2017-2021)
Year | Matches | Competitions |
|---|---|---|
2017 | 22 | 2019 World Cup Qualifiers (3), Friendlies (9), UEFA Women's Euro 2017 (6), Algarve Cup (4) |
2018 | 14 | 2019 World Cup Qualifiers (9), Algarve Cup (4), Friendly (1) |
2019 | 20 | UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Qualifiers (6), 2019 World Cup (7), Friendlies (4), Algarve Cup (3) |
2020 | 10 | UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Qualifiers (4), Friendlies (3), Tournoi de France (3) |
2021 | 17 | Friendlies (8), 2023 World Cup Qualifiers (5), Tokyo Olympics (4) |
How many matches did England play? (2017-2021)
Year | Matches | Competitions |
|---|---|---|
2017 | 18 | Friendlies (7), SheBelieves Cup (3), UEFA Women's Euro 2017 (5),2019 World Cup Qualifiers (3) |
2018 | 12 | SheBelieves Cup (3), 2019 World Cup Qualifiers (5), Friendlies (4) |
2019 | 20 | SheBelieves Cup (3), Friendlies (10), 2019 World Cup (7) |
2020 | 5 | SheBelieves Cup (3), Friendlies (2) |
2021 | 9 | Friendlies (3), 2023 World Cup Qualifiers (6) |
How many matches did India play? (2017-2021)
Year | Matches | Competitions |
|---|---|---|
2017 | 7 | 2016 SAFF Championship (2), 2018 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers (4), Friendly (1) |
2018 | 3 | Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers (3) |
2019 | 11 | Turkish Women's Cup (4), 2019 SAFF Championship (4), Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers (3) |
2020 | DNP | N/A |
2021 | 12 | Friendlies (7), Turkish Women's Cup (2), International Women's Football Tournament (3) |