Wales Returns to the World’s Top 10 After Stunning Summer

As of Tuesday 3 September, Wales has returned to the top 10 of the International Netball Federation’s world rankings.

This summer, Wales hosted South Africa for a two-test Wendy White series and then recorded successive victories against Malawi, Trinidad & Tobago and Grenada under head coach Julie Hoornweg. As a result, the new-look Wales team has jumped up the world table, moving from 12th to 10th place. These latest rankings reflect the games played up to 21 July 2019, which includes Wales’ summer tests, the 2019 Netball World Cup, the Pacific Games and the Samoa summer tests. Wales, along with New Zealand and the Cook Islands are the main risers in this latest publication of the rankings.

Commenting on the news that Wales has returned to the world’s top 10, Welsh Netball CEO Sarah Jones said: “It is fantastic to see Wales return to the top 10 ranked sides in the world!”

“I would like to congratulate all of the players on this achievement and it is a reward for all of their hard work over the last few months. I would also like to pay particular tribute to Julie Hoornweg and our management team – several of whom are volunteers – for their dedication to the squad.”

“We now look forward to the Netball Europe Open Championships in Belfast in several weeks time where the Wales senior squad will look to progress further still.”

International Netball Federation World Rankings:

1 Australia

2 New Zealand

3 England

4 Jamaica

5 South Africa

6 Uganda

7 Malawi

8 Scotland

9 Northern Ireland

10 Wales

You can see the full INF World Rankings table here.