The 50 best women’s soccer players in the world, ranked!

The women’s game continues to grow by leaps and bounds, and toward the end of another monumental 12 months, it’s only fitting that ESPN FC Women’s Rank, our ranking of the top 50 women footballers in the world, returns. As much as we saw the power balance change within teams this year, we saw a whole lot of movement on our top 50 player list, as well as some new faces too.

We’ve conducted this ranking for the past three years (read 2021, 2022 and 2023 here) and the changes in our ranking reflect the ever-evolving landscape of the sport. There were just four Americans last time, and none in the top 10 after a disastrous World Cup for the U.S. women’s national team — but after claiming gold at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, eight American players have made our list, including three in the top 10.

Unsurprisingly, 2023 World Cup winners Spain are still the leaders with nine players on the list, while there are six from France and World Cup runners-up England. In total, 19 different countries are represented, including players from Malawi and Zambia for the first time.

When it comes to their clubs, we have 16 different teams represented. Barcelona lead the way with 11 players, with Chelsea (7) and Lyon (6) behind them. The NWSL also contributes 13 players from eight clubs in total — with NJ/NY Gotham FC (3) having the most.

Out of the full list of players, there are 15 appearing for the first time — including three from African countries — which just goes to show how the talent pool in the women’s game is deeper than it has ever been. Picking just 50 was tougher than ever.

– Fan vote result for the best women’s soccer player of 2024!

ESPN FC Women’s Rank methodology and voting panel explained

We polled 18 women’s soccer experts from around the world. Current and former coaches for top-tier clubs teams or national teams, general managers, administrators and journalists were asked to anonymously pick their top 50 players of 2024. Using a ranked ballot, each No. 1 vote was worth 50 points, and each No. 50 vote was worth one point. At the end, we tallied up the points to get our list.

While our 2023 ranking was a runaway for last year’s No. 1, Aitana Bonmatí, as she was chosen No. 1 on nearly every ballot, this year was much more competitive: Seven different players landed at No. 1 on the ballots of at least one voter in our panel.

This list covers the 2024 calendar year, which means you might not see some players who spent most of the year sidelined. Indeed, we excluded options to vote for the likes of Chelsea’s Sam Kerr and Real Madrid’s Caroline Weir due to their long-term injuries.

Here is this year’s list of voters: Vlatko Andonovski, Kansas City Current head coach and former U.S. national team head coach; Denise Reddy, U.S. national team assistant coach; Sonia Bompastor, Chelsea head coach; Randy Waldrum, Nigeria head coach and former Houston Dash head coach; Lluis Cortes, Saudi Arabia head coach and former Barcelona head coach; Carmelina Moscato, assistant Racing Louisville coach and former Tigres UANL head coach; Hayley Carter, Orlando Pride general manager; Tanya Oxtoby, Northern Ireland national team head coach; Esther Appiah-Fei, analyst specializing in African soccer; Natalia Astrain, analyst and former U.S. youth national team head coach; Moya Dodd, World Leagues Forum adviser and former FIFA executive; Tom Garry, women’s football journalist for The Guardian; Amanda Zaza, women’s football journalist for SVT in Sweden; Cintia Barlem, women’s football journalist for TV Globo in Brazil; Sophie Lawson, ESPN women’s football writer; Emily Keogh, ESPN journalist; Jeff Kassouf, ESPN journalist; Caitlin Murray, ESPN editor.