Football’s always been a bit one-sided when it comes to attention. The numbers back this up: the 2022 World Cup pulled in around 5 billion viewers across the tournament, and overall, more people still follow men’s sports.
That said, women’s football isn’t some niche thing anymore. In fact, we now know that over 222 million fans tuned in to watch the Women’s World Cup final in 2023. Sure, that's still incomparable to the men’s game, but it shows that more people are getting into it. Therefore, it feels like a good time to look at the standout women footballers.
Ranking Criteria
Whether you’re making sports predictions, buying products, or simply choosing web-based platforms, you start by doing research. You’re looking for clear numbers and comparisons, not just opinions. For the same reason, people would rather choose a secure Paysafe casino backed by experts over a random online casino site. It may look weird to distill something into a few important metrics, but at the end of the day, you need some sort of priority traits that are deemed most important. Otherwise, you’d get into a position where you can’t rank anything out of fear of being inaccurate.
When looking at gambling websites, for example, you’d like to see safe payments, clear rules, and round-the-clock support. You’d also compare operators in terms of their game selection, welcome deals, and recurrent promotions. Similarly, we will pit women’s football players against one another based on a few specific metrics that we deem highly relevant in this context.
Goals scored, GPG, assists, and MPG are the logical place to start from. Then come the major international and club trophies, individual awards, and performance in finals. And finally, we look at how long they’ve been in the pitch and compare their results across multiple seasons.
The Best and Most Famous Women Footballers
This table shows the best woman football player alongside nine others who've achieved exceptional success:
|
Player |
Country |
Career highlights |
Biggest Awards |
Length of international career |
Goals scored |
|
Marta Vieira Da Silva |
Brazil |
Marta is basically a legend. She scored 17 Cup goals, so more than any player in history, men or women. On top of that, she’s the only player ever to score in five consecutive Olympics. |
They don’t call her the ‘‘Queen of Football’’ for nothing - she won the FIFA World Player of the Year award as many as six times. |
24 years (2002-present) |
122 - Over 213 matches |
|
Mia Hamm |
United States |
Learn about one of the first big stars in women’s football. Whenever the US was winning, like the World Cups in 1991 and 1999 or Olympic gold in 1996 and 2004, she was there. |
She won FIFA Player of the Year twice, which pretty much sums up how good she was. |
17 years (1987-2004) |
158 - Over 276 matches |
|
Birgit Prinz |
Germany |
Prinz was on the pitch when Germany won the World Cups in 2003 and 2007, and even scored in the 2007 final. Add in three Olympic bronze medals, and she was pretty much always part of the big moment. |
FIFA Player of the Year award three years in a row + Golden Ball. |
17 years (1994-2011) |
128 - Over 214 matches |
|
Abby Wambatch |
United States |
Besides scoring an extra-time winner in the 2004 Olympic final, she later helped the US grab gold again in 2012 and win the 2015 World Cup. |
Won FUFA Player of the Year an astonishing six times. |
14 years (2001-2015) |
158 - Over 255 matches |
|
Homare Sawa |
Japan |
With Sawa on their team, who scored five goals, Japan won the 2011 World Cup and 2014 Asian Cup. |
In 2011, she took the Golden Boot and Golden Ball home. Also names Player of the Year that year. |
23 years (1993-2015) |
82 - Over 205 matches |
Current Candidates for the Best Female Footballer in the World (2026)
Apart from Puttels and Kerr, several other woman footballers have been getting a lot of attention recently and could one day find themselves on the list of the top 10. These are the names to watch out for:
- Aitana Bonmati - scored as many as three goals during Spain’s World Cup win, and ended up taking the Ballon d’Or that same year
- Same Kerr - consistently at the top, whether it’s the Australian W-League, the American NWSL, or the English WSL
- Alexia Putellas - Barcelona’s captain and their top scorer. She was also on Spain’s team during the last World Cup, and when it won the Champions League three times
- Ada Hegerberg - a great Lyon player, who’s unfortunately been slowed down since 2020 due to several injuries
- Lauren James - Chelsea pulled off four wins in a row thanks to her, which is what earned her the PFA Women’s Young Player of the Year title for 2022-23
- Kadidatou Diani - has 11 major titles under her belt, and sets herself apart for how fast she’s on the pitch, that and goal-scoring
Many would rightfully argue that these names have more right to be on historic charts, simply because we are currently in the most competitive era of the sport.
Era Comparison - Past vs Modern Women Footballers
While stats are useful, they can only help so much in debates about the top and most famous female football players active in different sporting periods. We have to remember that these players trained and competed in very different circumstances. Here is a brief breakdown of how these eras were different.
|
Era |
What it was like |
|
Pioneer (late 19th and early 20th century) |
The first match took place in 1881; it was informal |
|
The Post-War Boom (1918-1921) |
Becoming popular, especially teams like Kerr Ladies |
|
The Ban (1921-70s) |
The English FA banned women from playing on professional grounds, and other countries followed |
|
Revival (70s-80s) |
Ban’s life in 1971, WFA is formed, and the first UEFA European Women’s Championship takes place in 1984 |
|
The Global Boom (1991-2010s) |
The first Women’s World Cup launched in 1991, and leagues became more competitive |
|
Modern Professional Era(2010s-present) |
Fully professional leagues, more attention from fans and media |
Back in the 90s and early 2000s, football was a different game - not nearly as organised as it is today. A few professional leagues that existed were often short-lived, and what's more, there was a huge gap between clubs. In that sense, it could've been easier for the best ones like Mia Hamm and Sun Wen to get noticed.
Compared to that, the skill gap difference between contemporary players isn’t as wide. They train full-time, and even matches between smaller teams are intense. In a way, it’s not as easy to stand out, and be a cut above the rest in this upgraded environment.
Regional Differences in Women’s Football
A person’s background also affects their career as a player. For example, in the States, players often go through school and college clubs, and then into the national teams, so they’re active from a young age. Europe had to catch up, but now clubs such as Chelsea and Barcelona train full-time, and athletes have better salaries.
South America is a different story. Players like Marta often had to leave home because local leagues didn’t offer many prospects. So, this is another thing often brought up when talking about the best female footballer in the world. Some were lucky enough to train in countries that motivate talented individuals, whereas others lacked such support but made it, nonetheless.
