International football’s governing body revealed its candidates for the FIFA Best Women's Player award on Tuesday, the winner of which will be announced at the Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony in London in two months.
Here is FIFA’s list of the nominees up for the award:
FIFA Best Women's Player Nominees
- Lucy Bronze (England/Olympique Lyonnais)
- Pernille Harder (Denmark/VfL Wolfsburg)
- Ada Hegerberg (Norway/Olympique Lyonnais)
- Amandine Henry (France/Olympique Lyonnais)
- Samantha Kerr (Australia/Sky Blue FC/Perth Glory FC/Chicago Red Stars)
- Saki Kumagai (Japan/Olympique Lyonnais)
- Dzsenifer Marozsán (Germany/ Olympique Lyonnais)
- Marta (Brazil/Orlando Pride)
- Megan Rapinoe (USA/Seattle Reign FC)
- Wendie Renard (France/Olympique Lyonnais)
A couple things pop out from the field. First is the dominance of Olympique Lyonnais with six representatives from the French side. Olympique Lyonnais is one of the most successful and strongest women’s clubs in the world, having won five Champions League titles since 2010, including last year’s trophy. Both Hegerberg and Henry, who appear on the list, scored in that final against Wolfsburg.
The NWSL has 3.5 members on the list (Amadine Henry helped the Portland Thorns to the 2017 NWSL championship and then moved to Lyon in the beginning of 2018). If Marta were to win, it would be her sixth World Player of the Year award. The Brazilian has been a revelation for the Orlando Pride since she joined last fall, leading the team with 13 goals and nine assists and helping them to their first ever postseason appearance.
USWNT stalwart and Seattle Reign midfielder Megan Rapinoe undoubtedly had the comeback story of the year in 2017-18, making her nomination particularly special and impressive. Rapinoe suffering her third ACL injury in December 2015 and underwent a meniscus repair in August 2017 but hit the ground running this past campaign. She finished the 2017 NWSL season with 12 goals in 18 games and has continued her fine form with seven goals in 13 games for Seattle so far this season. Meanwhile, she’s had 10 goals in 14 appearances for the U.S. in 2017-2018.
No doubt one of the favorites for the award is forward Sam Kerr. The Australian has been picking up hardware for her trophy case left and right all year. Last season, on her way to winning the NWSL MVP and Golden Boot, she broke all kinds of league records. Last week, she won the ESPY for Best International Women’s Soccer Player and earlier this month, she became the first woman to score more than 50 goals in the NWSL.
This is Kerr’s second nomination in a row and many were surprised to see her not even make the final three last year.
Big win for @TheMatildas
Sam Kerr doing Sam Kerr things
You watching this goal pic.twitter.com/SVW0UnH1hU— NWSL (@NWSL) November 22, 2017
This field is perhaps the strongest and most diverse we’ve seen since the inception of the FIFA Best Women's Player award. On September 24th, we will see who takes home the coveted honor.
Also on Tuesday, the FIFA Best Men's Player award nominees were announced.
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