World Rankings Hub

The World Netball World Rankings system was developed by statistician David Kendix for World Netball, and the first list of rankings was published on the 11^th February 2008. The rankings cover test matches played between the senior teams of Member countries.

For these teams a rating is measured of their average performance over a series of matches. Each team earns a certain number of points from each international match, and then the points earned are divided by the number of matches played to provide a rating. The teams are then ranked in order of their rating, with the top ranked country having the highest rating.

Weighting matches played a long time ago are a poorer guide to current form than more recent results. Therefore, older games are given a lower weighting compared to more recent results. For example, in the current World Rankings matches played between 1^st July 2020 – 28th February 2023 have a weighting of 50%, whilst matches played since March 2023 have a full weighting of 100%. Earlier matches are not directly included in the ratings at all.

Each year, the oldest year of results are dropped, so no longer count towards the ratings. The weightings are then redistributed accordingly. This is the one annual occasion when the rankings list could alter other than through a match being played and is called the annual update.

Due to the on-going constraints of the COVID pandemic relatively few international matches were played during 2020 and 2021. The World Netball Board, after taking advice from David Kendix, decided that in order to protect the integrity of the World Rankings and the qualification process for the Commonwealth Games Birmingham 2022, that the annual update that would under normal circumstances have taken place on July 2021 should be delayed. This annual update took place on the 1^st March 2022, when 130 matches had been played, making the 20 month period (from July 1 2020 to 28^th February 2022) comparable to previous 12 month periods. The next annual updates then took place every 12 months, on the 1st March 2023 and 1st March 2024. 

To view the history of annual updates from 2008-2024, click here. 

For more information including definitions on ratings, rankings, and points, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page in our World Rankings hub where you will find and written explanations from our statistician David Kendix.