Who is the best womens soccer player

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ESPN released its list of the top 50 players in women’s soccer Monday, with Barcelona star Alexia Putellas topping the annual ranking.

Twenty-six soccer minds, including USWNT manager Vlatko Andonovski and former USWNT captain Julie Foudy, were asked to weigh in on the best performances of the 2021-2022 season.

Putellas’ top spot comes as no surprise, with the 28-year-old also taking home this year’s Ballon d’Or and Best FIFA Women’s Player honors. Notching 18 goals in league competition and 11 in the Champions League, Putellas helped her club to a near-perfect season before Barça fell to Lyon in the Champions League final.

Barcelona, with Putellas’ help, changed the face of women’s soccer this year, twice breaking attendance records for the sport at Camp Nou.

Chelsea striker Sam Kerr slots in behind Putellas at No. 2 on the list in recognition of her Golden-Boot winning performance in the Women’s Super League. Rounding out the top of the rankings at No. 3 is Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema, who became the first player to be involved in 100 goals in the WSL.

Kerr and Miedema also finished in second and third last year, but they came behind Sam Mewis. The USWNT and Kansas City Current midfielder, who has been dealing with a nagging knee injury, sits at No. 37 this season.

The first USWNT player to appear on the 2022 list is Catarina Macario, who is ranked at No. 6 following a sensational campaign with Lyon. The NWSL is not represented on the list until No. 19, with OL Reign’s Rose Lavelle sneaking into the top 20 players.

Sam Mewis, Alex Morgan, Trinity Rodman, Lindsey Horan and Debinha are the other NWSL athletes included on the list.

The Best FIFA Women's Player is a football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, since 2016.[1] From 2001 to 2015, the award was known as the FIFA Women's World Player of the Year.

The Best FIFA Women's PlayerCurrent: The Best FIFA Football Awards 2021Presented byFIFAFormerly calledFIFA Women's World Player of the Year (2001–2015)First awarded2016 (2016)Current holder Alexia Putellas
(1st award)Most awards

Carli Lloyd

Marta

Lieke Martens

Megan Rapinoe

Lucy Bronze

Alexia Putellas
(1 award each)Websitefifa.com

The selection criteria for the players of the year are: sporting performance, as well as general conduct on and off the pitch.

The votes are decided by media representatives, national team coaches, and national team captains. In October 2016, it was announced that the general public would also be allowed to vote.[2] Each group has 25% of the overall vote.

At the 2017 awards, 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Bronze Ball and Bronze Shoe winner and amateur club player Deyna Castellanos was nominated. Professional players Megan Rapinoe and Sam Kerr criticized the nomination.[3]

Year	Rank	Player	Team(s)	Votes
2016	1st	Carli Lloyd	Houston Dash	20.68%
2nd	Marta	FC Rosengård	16.60%
3rd	Melanie Behringer	Bayern Munich	12.34%

2017	1st	Lieke Martens	Barcelona[note 1]	21.72%
2nd	Carli Lloyd	Manchester City[note 2]	16.28%
3rd	Deyna Castellanos	Santa Clarita Blue Heat	11.69%

2018	1st	Marta	Orlando Pride	14.73%
2nd	Dzsenifer Marozsán	Lyon	12.86%
3rd	Ada Hegerberg	Lyon	12.60%

2019	1st	Megan Rapinoe	Reign FC	46
2nd	Alex Morgan	Orlando Pride	42
3rd	Lucy Bronze	Lyon	29

2020	1st	Lucy Bronze[4]	Manchester City[note 3]	52
2nd	Pernille Harder[4]	Chelsea	40
3rd	Wendie Renard[4]	Lyon	35

2021 [5]	1st	Alexia Putellas	Barcelona	52
2nd	Sam Kerr	Chelsea	38
3rd	Jennifer Hermoso	Barcelona	33

Player	1st	2nd	3rd
Carli Lloyd	1 (2016)	1 (2017)	—
Marta	1 (2018)	1 (2016)	—
Lucy Bronze	1 (2020)	—	1 (2019)
Lieke Martens	1 (2017)	—	—
Megan Rapinoe	1 (2019)	—	—
Alexia Putellas	1 (2021)	—	—

Country	Players	Total
United States	2	2
Netherlands	1	1
Brazil	1	1
England	1	1
Spain	1	1

Club	Players	Total
Barcelona	2	2
Houston Dash	1	1
Orlando Pride	1	1
Reign FC	1	1
Manchester City	1	1

List of sports awards honoring women
FIFA Women's World Player of the Year
The Best FIFA Football Awards
Ballon d'Or Féminin

Portals:

Women's association football Sports Association football

^ Martens was signed by Barcelona from FC Rosengård midway through 2017.
^ Lloyd was signed by Manchester City from Houston Dash midway through 2017.
^ Bronze was signed by Manchester City from Lyon midway through 2020.

^ "Circular no. 1560" (PDF). FIFA.com. 21 October 2016. Archived from the original (pdf) on 25 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
^ "The fans take centre stage". FIFA.com. 31 October 2016. Archived from the original on October 31, 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
^ Megan Rapinoe says FIFA doesn't care about women's soccer – ESPN, 23 October 2017
^ a b c "The Best FIFA Football Awards 2020" (PDF). FIFA. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
^ "The Best FIFA Football Awards 2021" (PDF). FIFA. Retrieved 21 January 2022.