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Annual global ranking of the best female footballers From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 100 Best Female Footballers in the World is an annual global ranking of the best female footballers. The list was started by The Offside Rule podcast in 2016. Since 2018 it has also been published in association with the British newspaper The Guardian who have published the male equivalent since its inception in 2012.
The list is voted for by a panel of experts ranging from players and coaches to journalists and broadcasters from around the world. Judges are sent a longlist of 450 footballers and asked to rank their top 40 who are given a corresponding points value. The total across all judges determines the finish position. In 2019, the panel consisted of 93 judges from 44 countries across five continents including newly-appointed USWNT and reigning NWSL champion head coach Vlatko Andonovski, and FIFA Female Player of the Century and legendary China international Sun Wen.[1]
Number of wins in brackets.
Year | Player | Club(s) |
---|---|---|
2016[2] | Ada Hegerberg | Lyon |
2017[3] | Lieke Martens | Rosengård / Barcelona |
2018[4] | Pernille Harder | Wolfsburg |
2019[5] | Sam Kerr | Perth Glory / Chicago Red Stars |
2020[6] | Pernille Harder (2) | Wolfsburg / Chelsea |
2021[7] | Alexia Putellas | Barcelona |
2022[8] | Alexia Putellas (2) | Barcelona |
2023[9] | Aitana Bonmatí | Barcelona |
As of 2023, 36 individual players have been included in the "top 10" of the Top 100 list.
As of the 2023 edition, players from 38 nations have made up the Top 100. The United States has been the most represented nation in total (111) with a record 19 individuals in 2019. In 2020, Germany became the first nation other than the United States to be the most represented. Spain became the third nation to have the most selections with 15 in 2023. South Africa is the most recent nation to debut following the inclusion of Thembi Kgatlana in 2023.
Nationality is defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
The European confederation has had the most players selected every year.
Continent refers to the corresponding continental confederation of the player's nationality.
Rank | Confederation | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Europe | 64 | 56 | 62 | 62 | 74 | 67 | 68 | 64 | 517 |
2 | North America | 19 | 24 | 18 | 22 | 13 | 22 | 18 | 12 | 148 |
3 | Asia | 12 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 73 |
4 | South America | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 43 |
5 | Africa | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 17 |
6 | Oceania | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
As of the 2023 edition, players playing for 89 clubs have been selected. French club Lyon has had the most players in the Top 100 with 103 selections. In 2022, Barcelona became the first club other than Lyon to have the most players selected in a single year and retained the top spot the following year. Clubs are counted when a player in the Top 100 played for that team in the same calendar year they were selected. Players may have played for multiple clubs per year.
Rank | Club | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lyon | 15 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 13 | 10 | 103 |
2 | Barcelona | 3 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 73 |
3 | Chelsea | 7 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 67 |
4 | Wolfsburg | 8 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 66 |
5 | Paris Saint-Germain | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 61 |
6 | Arsenal | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 60 |
7 | Manchester City | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 55 |
8 | Bayern Munich | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 48 |
9 | Portland Thorns | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 31 |
10 | North Carolina Courage | 0 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 30 |
11 | Seattle Reign | 4 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 23 |
12 | Chicago Red Stars | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 18 |
Orlando Pride | 4 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
Real Madrid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | ||
15 | Rosengård | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
16 | Houston Dash | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 14 |
17 | Manchester United | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 12 |
Montpellier | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Washington Spirit | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
20 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 |
Melbourne City | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
22 | Linköpings | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
22 | Atlético Madrid | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
Juventus | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||
27 | NJ/NY Gotham FC | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
Turbine Potsdam | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
29 | San Diego Wave | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
Utah Royals | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
29 | Bordeaux | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
LSK Kvinner | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
31 | Aston Villa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Canberra United | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Essen | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
FC Twente | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
Freiburg | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Sydney FC | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Vålerenga | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
38 | BK Häcken | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Brisbane Roar | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Dalian | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
FSU Seminoles | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Hoffenheim | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
INAC Kobe | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
Jiangsu Suning | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Levante | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
Perth Glory | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
UCLA Bruins | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Vegalta Sendai | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
West Ham United | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
Western New York Flash | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Western Sydney Wanderers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
52 | AC Milan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Angel City FC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
Birmingham City | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Changchun Zhuoyue | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
FC Kansas City | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Hammarby | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
Kvarnsvedens | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Madrid CFF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
Pachuca | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
Paris FC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
PSV Eindhoven | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
Roma | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
SC Sand | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Stade de Reims | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
Wuhan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
67 | AC Nagano | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Achilles '29 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Boston Breakers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Brighton & Hove Albion | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Brøndby | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Deportivo Cali | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Everton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Inter Milan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
JEF United | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Kansas City Current | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
Liverpool | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Newcastle Jets | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Okayama Yunogo Belle | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Örebro | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Racing Louisville | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
Reading | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
Santos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
São Paulo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Shanghai Shengli | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
Suwon FC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Tigres UANL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Urawa Red Diamonds | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
West Virginia Mountaineers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
For the first four years, the United States league system had the most players selected. Since 2020, England has been the most represented and set a new record of 37 players in 2023.
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