Ladies’s soccer has grown exponentially within the twenty first century, particularly over the previous a number of years. We have seen record-breaking attendance on the league and worldwide degree, we have seen nationwide groups closing the aggressive hole to conventional giants of the sport, and younger stars are popping up all around the world for instance the rising immense expertise.
On the heart of all of it is the person expertise on present. From legends reminiscent of United States’ Mia Hamm and Brazil’s Marta, to youthful gamers Alexia Putellas, Sam Kerr and extra, they’ve all contributed to the sport in their very own distinctive approach. So how will we rank them in opposition to one another?
Editor’s Picks
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After taking a look at particular person achievements, their performances for membership and nation, and their general influence on the sport, we have been in a position to put collectively one of the best 20 ladies’s soccer gamers within the twenty first century.
Let the controversy start!
Key accomplishments: Six-time FIFA World Participant of the 12 months, Brazil’s prime objective scorer all time, file World Cup objective scorer, Golden Ball winner 2007 Ladies’s World Cup, Golden Boot winner 2007 Ladies’s World Cup
There could also be a temptation for Marta to remain on for one final crack on the World Cup on house soil in 2027, however because it stands the Paris Olympics is her final strive for a world title with the Brazilian nationwide group. Not having such an honor doesn’t put the slightest dent in her legacy. Marta is sort of merely crucial participant within the historical past of girls’s soccer. There’ll by no means be one other Marta.
Gliding previous opponents, beating keepers with a wand of a left foot, Marta got here from nowhere — a poor household in a distant a part of Brazil — to legitimize the game in locations the place it struggled to be taken severely. The inspirer of hundreds of thousands of goals, the one who confirmed that the ladies’s recreation may be an artwork type. — Tim Vickery
Key accomplishments: 5-time Liga F champion, six-time Copa de la Reina winner, three-time Champions League winner, two-time Champions League ultimate MVP, FIFA World Cup winner, World Cup ultimate MVP, World Cup Golden Ball, Ballon d’Or winner
BonmatÃ’s 2022-23 marketing campaign is unrivalled in ladies’s soccer. She received the highest prizes in membership and worldwide soccer — the Champions League with Barcelona and the World Cup with Spain — and was named the MVP in each finals.
She is a midfielder who can do the whole lot: dictate video games, beat gamers, create possibilities and rating. That success with Barça and Spain noticed her topped one of the best participant on this planet, as she was awarded each the Ballon d’Or and named The Greatest FIFA Ladies’s Participant for the primary time in her profession. — Sam Marsden
Key accomplishments: Eight-time Liga F champion, eight-time Copa de la Reina winner, three-time Champions League winner, Champions League Participant of the Season winner, World Cup winner, two-time Ballon d’Or winner, two-time The Greatest FIFA Ladies’s Participant winner
Putellas’ profession has been a battle on and off the pitch. On the pitch, she has reworked Spanish soccer, enjoying an element in Barça successful three Champions Leagues in 4 years and Spain changing into world champions. Off the pitch, she led the struggle in opposition to the Spanish Soccer Federation for improved working circumstances.
She has turn into an icon in Barcelona, the place her picture has crammed large promoting boards within the metropolis centre, and he or she is named La Reina.
“She is the captain and the queen of Barcelona for a purpose,” teammate Lucy Bronze stated after Putellas’ objective within the 2024 Champions League ultimate. “She confirmed immediately why she is a back-to-back Ballon d’Or winner.” — Marsden
4. Mia Hamm
Key accomplishments: Two-time World Cup winner, two-time Olympic gold medalist, two-time NCAA Division I champion, three-time ESPYS winner, U.S. Soccer Corridor of Fame inductee
Mia Hamm is maybe the primary international famous person to emerge out of girls’s soccer, and he or she was a reluctant one at that. However on the sector, in distinction, she performed with the boldness and killer intuition you’d anticipate from one of many world’s best goal-scorers.
All through a superb profession, Hamm had a knack for distinctive ball management and precision in her photographs. That is why she nonetheless is the No. 2 targets chief for the USWNT, with 158 worldwide targets. — Caitlin Murray
Key accomplishments: Two-time UEFA Ladies’s Champions League winner, seven-time Frauen-Bundesliga winner, three-time Germany Footballer of the 12 months
In each interview about Popp, her management is persistently counseled. Germany’s former supervisor, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, known as her “an important chief and one of many perfect,” whereas former Wolfsburg head coach Ralf Kellermann described her as “one of the influential personalities in soccer.” The 33-year-old has been the prolific driving pressure behind Wolfsburg and Germany’s success since 2012, a lot in order that her absence in both group leaves a big hole after greater than a decade of contributions.
“Her mentality and the vitality she exudes each day encourage and inspire us all,” teammate Sara Däbritz added. — Keogh
Key accomplishments: Three-time Ladies’s Tremendous League winner, three-time FA Cup winner, two-time NWSL Defend winner, PFA Ladies’s Participant of the 12 months 2015
When requested to explain Little in a single phrase, present and former Arsenal gamers used phrases reminiscent of “chief,” “colossal,” “inspiring,” “clever” and “irreplaceable.” Former USWNT star Tobin Heath acknowledged, “I’ve by no means performed with a greater participant than Kim Little,” a sentiment shared by many.
Since her profession started in 2006, the previous Scotland worldwide has persistently excelled on the pitch. Though she is a quiet presence inside the group, her expertise and management have been very important to the membership’s success. Little’s influence goes far past her spectacular abilities, making her among the finest gamers to grace the WSL. — Keogh
7. Birgit Prinz
Key accomplishments: Two-time FIFA World Cup winner, five-time UEFA European Championship winner, three-time FIFA World participant of the 12 months, eight-time German participant of the 12 months, nine-time Frauen-Bundesliga winner, 2003 World Cup Golden Ball winner
Among the finest finishers world soccer has ever seen, Birgit Prinz’s limitations have been apparent, she was by no means that quick and her standing soar wasn’t a lot to put in writing house about however her power on the ball meant that when the chance was there, Prinz nearly at all times received the aerial ball or reached out an extended leg to get the ultimate contact. Her understanding of when to sprint into the field and strike, of the place to be to obtain simply the fitting go from her teammates was bar none and that relentless objective scoring, a bit a part of Germany’s success throughout a number of World Cups and European Championships throughout her 17 years representing her nationwide group. — Lawson
Key accomplishments: 9-time French League winner, six-time UEFA Ladies’s Champions League winner, six-time French Cup winner, Ballon d’Or winner, file for many targets in UEFA Ladies’s Champions League
“I wish to get forward of my limits. That’s what I wish to do as an athlete — explode all limits that exist,” Hegerberg stated in 2022. Her tally of 264 targets in 244 video games to date for Lyon, with 60 of these coming within the Champions League, proves that the Norwegian striker is limitless on the subject of goal-scoring prowess. This makes her an indomitable menace, however by her personal admission, Hegerberg desires to set extra data.
Membership teammate Eugénie Le Sommer famous that Hegerberg possesses “unconventional qualities,” which contribute to and inform her outstanding ending abilities. — Keogh
Key accomplishments: 5-time Frauen-Bundesliga winner, four-time DFB-Pokal Frauen winner, three-time Ladies’s Tremendous League winner, three-time FA Cup winner
There’s a purpose More durable has received a league title each season since 2013 with 4 completely different golf equipment in 4 completely different nations. She possesses an intrinsic capability to raise the golf equipment she performs for to new heights. Her presence, versatility, and expertise uplift these round her, whereas her motion and knack for locating house and breaking defensive traces create a method for fulfillment.
“She joined an already wonderful group and took us to a good increased degree,” former coach Emma Hayes stated in 2021. “Her requirements day in, day trip ought to be what each younger particular person appears to be like as much as.” — Keogh
Key accomplishments: Ladies’s Tremendous League winner, Frauen-Bundesliga winner, three-time FA Cup winner, UEFA Ladies’s European Championship winner, all-time prime objective scorer in Ladies’s Tremendous League, Netherlands all-time prime objective scorer
Regardless of changing into the Ladies’s Tremendous League all-time prime scorer and setting quite a few data, Miedema stays unfazed by her success. “It is simply one other file or milestone that is there to be damaged and that is the best way I’ve at all times been. I’ve at all times handled data and landmarks as one thing to hit, be achieved with after which simply transfer on,” she stated after reaching 100 targets for Arsenal.
This mindset possible contributes to her fast success. She is not targeted on being one of the best, however is steadfast in giving 100%, and her method to milestones is why she continues to excel. — Keogh
11. Homare Sawa
Key accomplishments: FIFA world participant of the 12 months, two-time AFC ladies’s participant of the 12 months, 2011 World Cup Golden Ball winner, 2011 World Cup Golden shoe winner, two-time Nadeshiko League MVP, 2014 AFC Corridor of Fame inductee
The gruelling 2011 Ladies’s World Cup was drawing to a detailed and after having pushed the ultimate to additional time due to Aya Miyama’s late strike, Japan have been quick working out of [extra] time to discover a second equaliser. With simply three minutes left of the allotted 30, Homare Sawa raced by the field, decided to be the one to fulfill Miyama’s shallow nook, and with the skin of her boot, Nadeshiko’s captain deftly flicked the ball by the crowded field and into the again of Hope Solo’s web.
Sawa’s timing and contact have been good — as they so usually have been — and the objective was sufficient to pressure penalties and provides Japan and Sawa a bit of historical past in Germany. That second is a significant illustration of her legacy and prowess. — Lawson
Key accomplishments: 5-time Liga F winner, three-time UEFA Ladies’s Champions League winner, four-time Copa de la Reina winner, three-time Frauen-Bundesliga winner
It’s fairly outstanding that Graham Hansen does not obtain the person acclaim she deserves, as a result of few gamers possess the innate capability to conjure scoring alternatives out of skinny air just like the Norwegian winger. Throughout the 2023-24 marketing campaign, she reached new heights, solidifying her standing as among the finest present gamers. Overcoming earlier accidents and setbacks, she notched 30 targets in 38 appearances for Barcelona, with greater than 40 objective contributions in simply 25 Liga F video games and helped the titleholders retain their Champions League crown.
Her distinctive efficiency on this marketing campaign showcased why she is so extremely regarded by her teammates. — Keogh
Key accomplishments: Prime objective scorer in worldwide soccer (males’s or ladies’s), Olympic Golden Boot, two-time Bobbie Rosenfeld award winner (given to Canada’s prime feminine athlete), two-time MAC Hermann winner (given to the highest males’s and girls’s school soccer participant)
There isn’t any one wherever in senior soccer who can boast the identical scoring proficiency as Christine Sinclair, but what makes her so outstanding is her calm management on the pitch. Like a real captain, she uplifts these round her and even when she was the one routinely discovering the again of the web for Canada, her capability to float between roles from striker to playmaker, and do no matter her nation wanted, is what made her actually nice. Her general longevity and efficiency within the recreation speaks to an important soccer thoughts, one which’s at all times adapting. — Lawson
Key accomplishments: 5-time Ladies’s Tremendous League winner, three-time FA Cup winner, all-time prime objective scorer for Australia
Within the semifinals in opposition to powerhouse England, Kerr scored her first objective of the 2023 World Cup within the 63rd minute to degree the tie. Regardless of lacking everything of the group stage on account of an ankle damage on the eve of Australia’s opening recreation, her tenacity, incapability to surrender and technical expertise shone by. Kerr’s beautiful end surprised the world.
Though Australia in the end fell 3-1, Kerr’s rocket strike from outdoors the 18-yard field earned her widespread acclaim and highlighted her extraordinary expertise as a participant on the world stage. — Keogh
15. Megan Rapinoe
Key accomplishments: Two-time FIFA World Cup winner, Olympic gold medal winner, three-time NWSL Defend winner, Ballon d’Or winner, French League winner
Some of the recognised names in world soccer, Megan Rapinoe has achieved unimaginable issues each on and off the pitch. With the ball at her toes, Rapinoe created magic for the USWNT, together with a pivotal help to Abby Wambach for the equaliser in opposition to Brazil within the 2011 Ladies’s World Cup quarterfinals.
“It was a mixture of technical proficiency and IQ,” former coach Jill Ellis stated. “Megan has excellent instincts. She understands when to return inside, when to remain huge, and he or she grew to become essentially the most extraordinary crosser of the ball.” — Keogh
16. Kelly Smith
Key accomplishments: Six-time Ladies’s English League winner (now Ladies’s Tremendous League), 5-time FA Cup winner, UEFA Ladies’s Cup (now Champions League) winner, Ladies’s Tremendous League Corridor of Fame inductee
After the 2007 World Cup, former teammate Alex Scott stated Smith drove England ahead “with infectious enthusiasm” and stated “she modified the dynamic, and all of us adopted her lead,” after scoring twice in opposition to Japan. Smith shortly grew to become extensively thought to be among the finest gamers to return out of England by those that performed with and in opposition to her.
Famend for her pace, ball management and quickness of thought, she was crucial to Arsenal’s early success, successful the UEFA Ladies’s Cup and attaining the membership’s first and solely quadruple in 2006-07. — Keogh
Key accomplishments: Eight-time UEFA Champions League winner, Seven-time FIFPro World XI, 16-time French League winner, Champions League defender of the season 2019-20, World Cup Dream Group 2015
France’s Fox within the field (“renard” which means fox in French), Lyon’s rangy dependable centre-back has been an ever current for each Lyon and France for 13 years, her most evident ability her heading capability. However Renard is greater than only a towering presence; she is aware of how one can weave by a crowd and get her head on the ball earlier than anybody else, her aerial prowess as essential on the defensive finish as it’s on the attacking one.
Over time, these targets have proved to be very important for France again and again: Renard has scored 38 occasions for her nation — the seventh most of any participant to have represented Les Bleues. — Lawson
Key accomplishments: Seven-time French League winner, five-time UEFA Champions League winner, UEFA European Championship winner, three-time UNFP Participant of the 12 months, three-time German footballer of the 12 months, Champions League midfielder of the season 2019-20
A gifted youth participant who performed a key half in FFC Frankfurt’s 2014-15 Champions League triumph, “Maro” is finest identified for her time at Olympique Lyonnais, the place she received a mixed complete of 19 items of silverware with the French powerhouse. The playmaker was at her finest in 2016, remembered for scoring the decisive objective within the 2016 Olympic ultimate earlier than she transitioned from Frankfurt to Lyon. Her calm on the ball and talent to ship in pinpoint balls from wherever in midfield was sufficient to show heads in France; so too was her capability to completely execute the go to match her imaginative and prescient. — Lawson
Key accomplishments: Two-time FIFA World Cup winner, Olympic gold medal winner, UEFA Champions League winner, NWSL Defend winner, French League winner
Described as one of many best video games in ladies’s soccer, Manchester’s Outdated Trafford erupted on the London 2012 Olympics when Morgan netted the winner in opposition to Canada, securing the USWNT’s place within the ultimate.
“I used to be saying the entire time, ‘I do not care who scores so long as somebody friggin’ scores and we win,'” stated the then-23-year-old Morgan. With 30 seconds left in added time, Abby Wambach despatched the ball to Heather O’Reilly, who crossed to Morgan. She headed house over Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod, securing a 4-3 victory, the U.S. then defeating Japan 2-1 to win Olympic gold. — Keogh
20. Kristine Lilly
Key accomplishments: 2015 US Soccer Corridor of Fame inductee, 2006 FIFA World Participant of the 12 months runner-up
Lengthy thought to be one of many best gamers of her era, and certainly among the finest to signify the Stars and Stripes, there is definitely nobody who comes near Kristine Lilly’s longevity: Her 354 caps have not been topped since her retirement in 2010. Perhaps crucial second of these 354 caps was Lilly’s goal-line clearance within the 1999 World Cup ultimate, which denied China in additional time to push the sport all the best way to penalties and cemented the 99ers’ place in U.S. soccer historical past. — Lawson
Simply missed the checklist
21. Hege Riise
Key accomplishments: FIFA World Cup winner, UEFA European Championship winner, Olympics gold medalist, NFF “Greatest Footballer Ever,” 1995 World Cup Golden ball
Lengthy earlier than Hegerberg and Graham Hansen, there was Riise, the enigmatic attacker who was on the forefront of Norway’s early successes on the worldwide stage, her targets very important in every main piece of silverware the Soccer Ladies collected by the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s.. — Lawson
22. Amandine Henry
Key accomplishments: Seven-time UEFA Champions League winner, 2015 World Cup Silver Ball, 2015 World Cup All-star group
A midfielder with distinctive imaginative and prescient and ability, two of Henry’s best moments have been in truth targets: the decided winner in opposition to Brazil within the quarterfinals of France’s house World Cup, and her stunner for Lyon within the 2022 Champions League ultimate that proved to be the distinction in opposition to Barcelona. — Lawson
23. Hope Solo
Key accomplishments: FIFA World Cup winner, two-time Olympic gold medalist, 2009 U.S. Soccer Athlete of the 12 months, 2-time FIFA World Cup Golden glove, 2011 FIFA Bronze Ball, 2022 Soccer Corridor of Fame inductee
Though Solo was not the primary goalkeeper in ladies’s soccer, she was one who introduced wider recognition to the function and shortly elevated herself to being one greats of the place. She was at her peak in the course of the USWNT’s runs on the 2011 and 2015 World Cups. — Lawson
24. Abby Wambach
Key accomplishments: FIFA World Cup winner, two-time Olympic gold medalist, six-time U.S. Soccer athlete of the 12 months, 2011 Silver Ball winner, 2011 AP Feminine Athlete of the 12 months, 2016 ESPY Icon award
After all there are her targets — she beforehand held the file for many scored by a single participant in worldwide soccer earlier than being overtaken by Sinclair — however Wambach’s legacy is of her steadfast mentality that saved her pushing and believing the U.S. would at all times have yet another probability in a recreation, reminiscent of their last-gasp win over Canada on the 2012 Olympics. — Lawson
25. Julie Foudy
Key accomplishments: Two-time FIFA World Cup winner, two-time Olympic gold medalist, 2007 U.S. Soccer Corridor of Fame inductee, 1997 FIFA truthful play award
Lengthy earlier than she began her work in punditry and activism, Foudy was the U.S. group’s rock in midfield, main from the entrance first as co-captain then for 4 years as captain of her nationwide group. Like Riise, although, her best moments — successful the 1991 and ’99 World Cups — have been final century. — Lawson
