The American side, who endured a disappointing campaign at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, suffering a shock quarter-final exit to eventual silver medallists Sweden, won six matches out of six since the last rankings were published.

This included thumping 8-1 and 5-0 victories over Romania, while they also comfortably beat Thailand 9-0.

However, it has been a difficult year for the US team as their pursuit of a third straight Olympic gold medal was ended with defeat to the Swedes on penalties.

Following the surprise loss, goalkeeper Hope Solo was given a six-month suspension after she labelled the Swedish team as “cowards” for what she perceived to be an overly-defensive performance in the last eight at Rio 2016.

Her comments at Rio 2016 sparked outrage, with Sweden’s coach Pia Sundhage, who used to be in charge of the American side, declaring in the aftermath that it was “okay to be a coward if you win”.

“She’s going home and I’m going to Rio,” added Sundhage.

Sweden went on to reach the final, where they were beaten 2-1 by Germany.

Their appearance at the Olympics in the Brazilian city had also been briefly in doubt as several key players had threatened to boycott the tournament over an equal pay dispute.

The US sit at the summit of the FIFA women’s rankings on 2,140 points, with Olympic gold medallists Germany second on 2,109 and France third on 2,041.

Kenya are the highest movers on the list having jumped 10 places into 122^nd position.

Andorra and Rwanda have made their first appearance on the rankings but nine countries - Ecuador, Iran, Indonesia, Laos, Palestine, Kyrgyzstan, Gabon, Lebanon and Swaziland have dropped out due to prolonged inactivity.