It means the South African women’s team are now just two places off their highest ranking of 50, achieved three years ago.
South Africa, who will be representing the continent at the women’s football tournament at the Olympic Games in Brazil, are in fifth place in the African rankings, behind Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
Banyana were the team who played the most international matches since the last rankings were issued in March. They had six internationals, beating Botswana in the African Women’s Championship qualifiers both home and away and also beating Cameroon and Zimbabwe.
The next FIFA rankings for women’s football will be issued in August after the Olympics where if South Africa pick up a positive result could catapult them to a record high.
The USA, who host Banyana in a friendly in Chicago in a fortnight’s time, are top ranked with Germany second; France third and England in fourth place.
SAFA announced earlier on Friday that the team would play New Zealand in a pre-Olympics warm-up on July 28.