We also include the match-ups for the Second Round later this month in October after UEFA’s draw. We also look at the 2024 Ballon d’Or Féminin candidates for 2024’s major awards for best player, coach and team globally, from French Sports Magazine France Football.
UEFA Women’s Champions League First Qualifying round—Part 2
Champions Path
Group 9 (hosts: ŽNK Osijek)
Semi-finals
ŽNK Osijek (CRO) 2 vs Spartak Myjava (SVK) 1
FC Dinamo-BSUPC (BLR) 1 vs Peamount United (IRL) 2 AET
Third Place
Spartak Myjava (SVK) FC 2 Dinamo-BSUPC (BLR) 3
Final
ŽNK Osijek (CRO) 2 vs Peamount United (IRL) 1
On September 4, for Osijek, Izabela Lojna (32) of Croatia was the difference maker with two goals early in the second half to power their 2-1 win over Spartak Myjava. The full international has won 11 league titles in Croatia, all with Osijek, and is playing in her 14th season with club; she also has over 85 caps for her country. In the other semifinal, Republic of Ireland native Kerri Letmon (25), who played for Shelbourne as Ireland’s WCL representative last season, scored the winner for Peamount United in the 96th minute in their 2-1 win over Dinamo of Belarus. No Irish side has ever made the group stage of the WCL.
On September 7, home side Osijek fought back from a 4th minute Peamount goal by Republic of Ireland international Dearbhaile Beirne (26) by scoring two goals within five minutes of the second half restart through Croatian international midfielder (with over 85 caps) Izabela Lojna (32) and Croatian youth international Paula Petkovic (17) to win the tie and advance to Round 2. Lojna has scored at least 25 goals (and seasons of 43 and 45 goals) in ten of the 11 past campaigns with Osijek.
For Spartak Myjava of Slovakia, of the 21 players registered with UEFA for the WCL in 2024-25, only one is an import—from neighbors Czech Republic. Defender and former U-19 Czech Republic international Tereza Honkova (27) has won two league titles with Spartak Myjava. The rest of the side are from Slovakia and many are quite young, as 12 are teenagers (15-19 years of age).
Dinamo used a squad that were all Belarussian as registered for the UEFA WCL.
Peamount of Dublin is four times champions of the currently named Women’s Premier Division in Ireland, winning titles in 2011-12, 2019, 2022 and 2023. All of the team are from the Republic of Ireland except Canadian defender Sophie Miranda (22), who played at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. During Miranda’s time, Queen’s Women’s Soccer won one Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championship (2021), one OUA silver medal (2023), and two trips to the University Sports Women’s Soccer Championship, finishing as runners-up in 2021.
Group 10 (hosts: Ferencvárosi TC)
Semi-finals
Ferencvárosi TC (HUN) 2 vs Tallinna FC Flora (EST) 1
FC Vorskla Poltava (UKR) 5 vs RFS Women (LVA) 0
Third Place
Tallinna FC Flora (EST) 0 (7) vs RFS Women (LVA) 0 (6) on penalties
Final
Ferencvárosi TC (HUN) 0 vs FC Vorskla Poltava (UKR) 2
On September 4, Vikrotiia Radionova (19) and Kateryna Korsun (29) both had braces in an easy 5-0 win for Vorskla Poltava of Ukraine over RFS of Latvia. Ferenc of Hungary struggled in the other semifinal but two goals by American Jadyn Edwards (24) sent the Hungarian Champions into the Final 2-1 over Flora of Estonia.
Flora used an all-Estonian side except for forward Eline Haberlie (18) of Switzerland, who has won the last two (2022 and 2023) Meistriliiga (Estonian) Women League titles.
RFS of Latvia previously played as SFK Riga; their squad was all domestic-based except for three imports—two from Ukraine and defender Maryan Ogochukwu Ohadiwe (20) of Nigeria, who previously played in Turkey with 1207 Antalyaspor Kadin.
Ferencvarosi had three imports from the U.S. and one each from Estonia, Northern Ireland, Romania and Serbia. The imports were:
Goalkeeper Milica Kostic (26)—Serbia; she played six games last season at Eskilstuna in Sweden after playing for years at home with Spartak Subotica, where she won six league titles.
Defender Brigita Goder (32)—Romania; she is a full international who has played in Hungary since 2016; she is ethnically Hungarian.
Defender Chaylyn Hubbard (24)—U.S.; she played at Texas Christian University.
Midfielder Jadyn Edwards (24)—U.S.; she played at the University of New Mexico and scored 31 goals and 24 assists in 94 games, finishing first in school history in assists and games played and third in goals. A native of the State of Washington, she signed with the Seattle Reign in 2023 as a national team replacement player after being selected in the 2023 NWSL Draft in the third round (29th overall of 48 selections) by Racing Louisville.
Forward Leyla Mcfarland (24)—Northern Ireland; she played at Pepperdine University in Southern California and with Pachuca in Mexico; she was born and raised in the U.S. and played at the U-19 level with Northern Ireland.
Forward Alesia Garcia (24)—U.S.; she is in her second season with the Hungarian champions. She played at the University of New Mexico and Louisiana State University.
Forward Vlada Kubassova (29)—Estonia; she has 60 full international caps and won a league title at home with Flora last season before joining the Hungarian side. She has also played in Italy for Napoli and Como.
Group 11 (hosts: FCV Farul Constanta)
Semi-final
KFF Mitrovica (KOS) 0 vs FCV Farul Constanta (ROU) 4
Final
Valerenga (NOR) 3 v Farul Constanta (ROU) 1
On September 4, iconic Romanian international Laura Rus (36) scored just after the halftime break to spur a four goal explosion in the second half for a 4-0 win over Mitrovica and send Farul Constanta into a difficult Final match versus Valerenga, who had the bye in the only three team group. On September 7, Valerenga came back from 1-0 down to dispatch the Romanian side 3-1 and move onto the second round.
Mitrovica—with Kosovo always having close ties with Albania at the club and international level in football (see our discussion with one of their senior internationals a few years ago: The Week in Women's Football: Kristina Maksuti interview; Paul Riley fired; Indoor Pro Soccer; - Tribal Football)—had two imports from Albania:
Goalkeeper Viona Rexhepi (28); she is a full Albanian international and won a league title at home with Vllaznia to go with four league titles won with Mitrovica.
Defender Gresa Haziri (26); she has one full cap for Albania and also has won four Kosovo league titles.
Farul Constanta is a WCL debutant this year from Romania and has utilized five imports:
two from Kenya, two from Moldova and one from Bulgaria:
Goalkeeper Lilian Awuor Onyango (25)—Kenya; she joined Farul in February of 2024. She previously played at Olympique Valence (France) in the regional leagues. She is a member of the Kenyan national team.
Defender Enez Mudeizi Mango (31)—Kenya; she is a Kenyan international who played at home with Vihaga Queens.
Defender Nikoleta Boycheva (30)—Bulgaria; she is a full international for Bulgaria and played in the German second tier in the past. She won three league titles at home with Lokomotiv Stara Zagora.
Forward Claudia Chiper (29)—Moldova; she is a Moldovan international who has also played in Cyprus.
Forward Carolina Tabur (25)—Moldova; she is also a Moldovan international who has played in Romania with Olimpia Cluj.
Note: Forward/attacking midfielder Estell Gnaly (22) is an Ivory Coast international who has signed for Farul Constanta but was not registered in time to participate in the WCL first round matches.
Gnaly was named the Best Women’s D1 Player (Ivory Coast) for the 2022-2023 season at the second edition of the Ivorian Football Stars Awards ceremony. Gnaly played at Athlético Club of Abidjan where she won two Ivory Coast championship titles (2021-2022 and 2022-2023) and played in the 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League with Athlético Club Abidjan. Gnaly also played with Africa Sports d’Abidjan. Her transfer was arranged by the LTA Agency of Bulgaria, which is the agent of record for such top internationals as Zambian international Barbra Banda of Orlando and former Spanish international Vero Boquette, who is in her fourth season at Fiorentina.
Among local players, Tabita Cojocaru recently joined Farul in January of 2024 and is a Romanian U-19 national team. She also played for the University of Galati, Navobi Iași and Liceenii Topolog, all in Romania. From Romania, veteran international forward Laura Rus (36) is approaching 150 caps and has played in Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Cyprus, Iceland, Italy, South Korea and Spain.
Since the 2022-2023 seasons, Farul Constanța has had a women’s team and was promoted to the top flight at the end of that first season. Starting with the 2023-2024 season, their first in Liga 1, former Romanian international (with over 50 caps) Raluca Sârghe-Simes (37) took over as head coach; she played for years at Konak Belediyespor in Turkey.
Farul Club Vice President Tiberiu Curt said in a media release: “Football is a phenomenon that in recent years has gained a lot of supporters among ladies and young ladies. I think we all see the impact that women’s football matches have worldwide (which is) the involvement in this direction that exists in all the top teams in Europe. As I have always said, Farul is the team of all Dobrogeans (the Black Sea region of Romania and Bulgaria), and the establishment of this team is nothing but a normality through which we want to offer the same joys, fulfillments, to all those who love Farul, regardless of gender.”
League Path
Group 1 (hosts: Brøndby IF)
Semi-finals
Brøndby IF (DEN) 0 vs ACF Fiorentina (ITA) 1
AFC Ajax (NED) 4 vs FC Kolos Kovalivka (UKR) 1 AET
Third Place
Brøndby IF (DEN) 2 vs FC Kolos Kovalivka (UKR) 1
Final
ACF Fiorentina (ITA) 1 vs AFC Ajax (NED) 0
On September 4, Agnese Bonfantini (25), an Italian international, scored the only goal of the match six minutes before the first half break as Fiorentina downed Brondby of Denmark 1-0. On September 7, Swedish international forward Madelen Janogy (28) scored the winner eight minutes from time as Fiorentina again won 1-0, this time in the Final against Ajax. In her first season with Fiorentina, Janogy had seven goals in 14 games in 2023-24. She won a Silver Medal at the 2020 Olympics in Japan and won league titles in Germany with Wolfsburg and three in Sweden—two Damallsvenskan championships with Hammarby and Pitea and an Elitettan (Division 2) title with Mallbacken.
Brondby’s imports included two goalkeepers are imports:
Angel Mukasa (22) of Sweden is a youth international who started in AIK of Stockholm’s academy at age six; she has been on Rosengard’s roster for six years and recently joined Brondby.
Tiffany Sompao (26) of Thailand She is in her second season with Brondby but did not play at all last season. She previously played in 2022 in Iceland in Selfoss and 2021 with Keflavik. She was raised in the U.S. and is a Thailand international.
Also, the club had two imports each from Norway, Iceland and Sweden (including Mukasa).
Kolos Kovalivka of Ukraine are WCL debutants this year and had a squad made up entirely of Ukrainian nationals.
Ajax played friendlies in August ahead of the WCL matches that included two wins over Belgium sides: 3-0 over Leuven and then a 6-0 over Genk. Ajax only had one import on their roster in Lily Yohannes (17) who was a revelation last year with five goals in 20 regular season games—she has been to camp with the U.S. and had a decent chance to make the US national team for the 2024 Summer Olympics Finals but has yet commit to the U.S.—she could also play for the Dutch having lived there for years.
Group 2 (hosts: Linköping FC)
Semi-finals
AC Sparta Praha (CZE) 3 vs Linköping FC (SWE) 1 AET
Paris FC (FRA) 9 vs First Vienna FC 1894 (AUT) 0
Third Place
First Vienna FC 1894 (AUT) 0 vs Linköping FC (SWE) 8
Final
AC Sparta Praha (CZE) 0 vs Paris FC (FRA) 2
In the semifinals on September 4, French international (with one cap in 2023 in a Women’s Nations League match scoreless deadlock versus Norway and in her eighth season at Paris FC) and long-time youth international Mathilde Bourdieu (25) and Julie Dufour (23) both had braces, with each scoring two consecutive goals in a 9-0 win over First Vienna. Dufour scored seven goals in 22 matches in 2023-24 with Paris FC, her first after three seasons in Bordeaux.
In the other semifinal, Australian-raised Philippines international defender Angie Beard scored the first goal in the 48th minute for Linkoping but an own goal in the 67th minute by Swedish defender Nellie Karlsson (29) tied it up and Sparta scored twice in the extra 30 minutes by Czechia international defenders Katerina Kotrcova (24) and Eva Bartonova (30), the latter from the penalty spot.
On September 7, in the group Final, French international forward Clara Mateo (26) scored the winner for Paris FC in the 36th minute, and Slovenian international midfielder Kaja Korosec (22) scored the clinching second goal five minutes before time. Mateo is in her eight season with Paris FC and finished second in the 2016 U-20 WWC in Papua New Guinea, falling in the Final 3-1 to Korea DPR and also in the Nations League final last year against reigning World Cup champions Spain.
Korosec scored two goals in 20 games last season for Paris FC. She is a full international and is in her second season with Paris FC; she won three league titles at home with Pomurje. In the third place match, Norwegian youth international Irene Dirdal (20), in her first season in Sweden after transferring from Lillestrom at home, scored a hat-trick in the 8-0 third place match win over First Vienna. Dirdal has two goals in 18 regular season matches thus far this season in the Damallsvenskan.
Sparta Prague prepared for their WCL campaign by beating Red Bull Leipzig of Germany 2-0 on August 10 in a friendly match. For imports at Sparta, they had three Canadians last year but they are all gone for 2024-25. From North America, they have two players from the U.S. plus one from Sweden:
Goalkeeper Somea Polozen (21)—Sweden; she moved from Rosengard at home, where she won two league titles. She also played on loan at Trelleborg in the Swedish first and second tier in 2023 and 2024 and has been with Sweden at the U-23 international level.
Defender Morgot Ridgeway (24)—U.S.; she played collegiately at University of California-Davis, North Carolina State and the University of Michigan.
Midfielder Lauren Chang (25)—U.S.; she played at the University of South Carolina and has a Masters’ degree in Business from the school.
Sparta also had six players from neighboring Slovakia.
Linkoping had ten imports, including three from Norway, two from Australia, and one each from England, Finland Iceland, Netherlands and the U.S.:
Defender Polly Doran (22)—Australia; she played the last three seasons at Crystal Palace in the English Championship, winning promotion to the WSL in 2023-24 and four seasons at Melbourne, where she won two league titles.
Defender Angie Beard (26)—Philippines; she is a native of Australia has previously played at Fortuna Hjorring in Denmark in 2021-22 and 2022-23 and KR in Iceland in 2020; at home she played at Western United, Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar.
Defender Malin Brenn (25)—Norway; she is in her second season with Linkoping after joining from Como in Italy, where she played in 18 games in 2022-23 after winning four consecutive league titles with Lillestrom from 2016-2019. Breen has been capped at youth levels for Norway and once at the senior level in 2023 at the Tournoi de France in February 2023 in a 1-0 win against France as a second half substitute. She was on the squad for friendlies against Spain (2-4) and Sweden (3-3) and Nations League matches later that year against France (1-2, 0-0) but did not play.
Midfielder Noor Eckhoff (24)—Norway; she played the last two seasons at Inter of Italy and before that in 2022 and 2021 with Eskilstune United. Eckhoff also played seven games with Melbourne City in 2020/21 after time in Norway with Kolbotn and Lyn.
Midfielder Irene Dirdal (20)—Norway; she joined the Swedish side this season after two seasons at Lillestrom (see above).
Midfielder Vilma Koivisto (21)—Finland; this is her sixth season playing in Sweden but first at Linkoping after time at Norrkoping, Umea and Pitea; she won a second division title in 2021 at Umea.
Forward Delaney Pridham (26)—U.S.; she has played exclusively in Sweden for the past four years—the last half of 2021 and all of 2022 at Kristianstad and the last two with Linkoping—but no games in 2023 after a summer at IBV in 2021.
Forward Aimee Claypole (18)—England; she is on loan to Linkoping from Chelsea of the WSL and scored two goals in 11 games last season at Lewes in the Championship, also on loan.
Forward Maria Olafsdottir Gros (21)—Iceland; she played the last two seasons at Fortuna Sittard in the Netherlands after six seasons at Thor/KA. She also spent a season in Scotland with Celtic and has been capped by Iceland at the U-17 and U-19 level.
Forward Eshly Bakker (31)—Netherlands; she has been capped at multiple youth and the senior level for the Dutch. She moved to Sweden after playing at home with Utrecht and Ajax. She has also played in Germany.
Their head coach is Rafael Rodan (35) of Spain, who joined Linkoping in January of 2024.
WCL debutants First Vienna of Austria had six imports on their squad: four Germans, one from Luxembourg and one Hungarian—international forward Loretta Nemeth (28) who is in her second year at the club. Nemeth scored seven goals in 16 games and won a league title with Apollon Limassol in Cyprus in 2018-19 and also at Gyori ETA at home.
Group 3 (hosts: Arsenal Women FC)
Semi-finals
Arsenal Women FC (ENG) 6 vs Rangers LFC (SCO) 0
Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP) 2 (2) vs Rosenborg BK (NOR) 2 (3) on penalties
Third Place
Rangers LFC (SCO) 0 vs Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP) 3
Final
Arsenal Women FC (ENG) 1 vs Rosenborg BK (NOR) 0
On September 4, Australian international forward Caitlin Foord scored four times as Arsenal made easy work against Glasgow Rangers in the second half—after Foord scored in the 16th minute, Rangers held the London side to one goal until the hour mark when Foord scored her second and English international Alessia Russo scored within a minute.
On September 7 in the Final, Norwegian international Frida Manuum (25) scored the only goal of the game in the 19th minute to defeat her compatriots from Rosenborg, Norway.
Rosenborg of Norway used three imports: two from Denmark and one from Iceland: midfielder Selma Magnusdottir (26) is an Iceland international in her third season with Rosenborg. Magnusdottir played for eight seasons with Breidablick and one season in 2023-24 with Nurnberg in Germany.
Atletico Madrid utilized ten imports: four from Brazil, two from Norway and one each from Germany, Portugal, Nigeria and Venezuela. The imports from the latter three countries were:
Midfielder Tatiana Pinto (30)—Portugal; she has over 110 caps for Portugal and was on the side at the 2023 WWC Finals. Pinto is in her first season at the club since moving from Brighton and Hove Albion in the WSL—she also played for Bristol City in the WSL in 2015 as well as time in Germany and at home.
Forward Gabriela Garcia (27)—Venezuela; she is a full international for Venezuela and has played in Spain since 2017 with Deportivo La Coruna, Real Sociedad and Atletico since 2023-24, playing in 26 games last season and scoring twice.
Forward Rasheedat Ajibade (24) of Nigeria—she played for Nigeria in the 2023 WWC and 2024 Olympics Games Finals, as well as the 2016 U-17 FIFA World Cup and won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in 2018. This is her fifth season at the club and has scored 30 goals in 99 games. She also spent two seasons at Alvadsness in Norway in 2019 and 2020, scoring 12 goals in 39 games.
Rangers utilized three imports from England, two from Northern Ireland and one each from Netherlands, New Zealand and the U.S.:
Goalkeeper Victoria Esson (33)—New Zealand; she is in her third season with Rangers in Glasgow and has played in Norway and England. She played collegiately at Texas Tech and started all three of the Football Ferns 2023 Women’s World Cup Games at home.
Midfielder Camille Lafaix (23)—U.S.; she played at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo and last season with Bordeaux in France.
Midfielder Tessel Middag (31)—Netherlands; the Dutch international has played at Fiorentina in Italy and in England at West Ham and Manchester City.
Josanne Potter (39), a former England international, is in her second season as the head coach at Rangers.
Group 4 (hosts: Breidablik)
Semi-finals
FC Minsk (BLR) 1 vs Breidablik (ISL) 6
Eintracht Frankfurt (GER) 0 vs Sporting CP (POR) 2
Third Place
FC Minsk (BLR) 0 vs Eintracht Frankfurt (GER) 6
Final
Breidablik (ISL) 0 vs Sporting CP (POR) 2
On September 4, Iceland international forward Katrin Asbjornsdottir scored three times for Breidablik in their 6-1 win, building to a 4-1 lead by the 34th minute, though Minsk pulled one back in the 39th through their Belarussian international midfielder Liana Miroshnichenko (35), who has played in the Belarus Women’s League since 2010 and returned to the Minsk side this season after two seasons with Smorgon and four with Zorka-BDU—she previously won five consecutive league titles with Minsk from 2013-2017 after joining the club in 2011.
On September 7, German international Laura Freigang (26) scored a first half hat trick as Frankfurt raced to a 4-0 halftime lead in their 6-0 win over Minsk in the third place match. Sporting advanced with a 2-0 win over Breidablik with Portuguese full international Telma Encarnacao (22) scoring both goals. She played at the 2023 WWC Finals and scored a goal in their 2-0 win over Vietnam in their second game in New Zealand.
Minsk had two imports from Mozambique and one each from Kazakhstan and Russia (see more on their imports in last week’s column, which had an in-depth analysis of the state of the game in Belarus: The Week in Women's Football: Deep-dive into Champions League first round; examining Belarus - TribalFootball.com).
Eintracht Frankfurt had seven imports on their WCL roster, with three from Switzerland and one each from Austria, Denmark, Japan and Slovenia. The latter two imports are:
Lara Prašnikar (26)—Slovenia; she is a Slovenian international who is nearing a half century of caps and first came to Germany in 2016-17 with Turbine Potsdam. She moved to Frankfurt for the 2020-21 season.
Remina Chiba (25)—Japan; she played in the 2023 WWC Finals with Japan and joined Eintracht in January of 2024 from JEF United Chiba, where she scored 10 goals in 28 matches. In the second half of the 2023-24 Frauen-Bundesliga season, she scored twice in 12 matches.
Breidablik—coached by long-time English coach Nik Chamberlain who moved from Throttur last October (see our interview with Chamberlain from a few years ago when he was at Throttur in Reykjavik) is entirely domestic except for one import. Earlier this summer they had defender Anna Nurmi of Finland, who was playing outside of her native country for the first time and has made 15 appearances this year before moving to FH in Iceland in the middle of August and thus was not registered for the WCL, which she had played in during the 2022-23 season with KuPS at home. She scored 6 goals in 23 matches last season for Aland United and has a business degree from Haaga-Helia University in Helsinki. Thus, Breidablik’s lone import came from the U.S.
Midfielder Samantha Smith (23)—U.S.; she scored four goals in four regular season games in Iceland this summer and played at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina.
Draw for 2024-25 WCL Second round
First Leg—first team named is at home
September 18-19
League Path
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) vs. Real Madrid (Spain)
Juventus (Italy) vs. Paris Saint-Germain (France)
Paris FC (France) vs. Manchester City (England)
Fiorentina (Italy) vs. Wolfsburg (Germany)
Häcken (Sweden) vs. Arsenal (England)
Champions Path
St. Polten (Austria) vs. Mura (Slovenia)
Benfica (Portugal) vs. Hammarby (Sweden)
Osijek (Croatia) vs. Twente (Netherlands)
Galatasaray (Turkey) vs. Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Roma (Italy) vs. Servette (Switzerland)
Anderlecht (Belgium) vs. Vålerenga (Norway)
Vorskla Poltava (Ukraine) vs. Celtic (Scotland)
The second legs will be held on September 25-26
2024 BALLON D’OR FÉMININ PLAYER, TEAM AND COACH OF THE YEAR NOMINATIONS
Six players from the National Women’s Soccer League were nominated for the 2024 Ballon d’Or Féminin, it was announced today. Presented by France Football, the award recognizes the sport’s best players on the world stage each year as well as awards for teams and coaches on the men’s and women’s side. The nominees who are currently playing in the NWSL include:
Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride)
Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)
Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit)
Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC)
Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars)
Tarciane (Houston Dash)
Additionally, Washington Spirit Head Coach Jonatan Giráldez, who previously served as the head coach for Barcelona Femení, was nominated for Women’s Team Coach of the Year while reigning NWSL Champion NJ/NY Gotham FC was among the five clubs nominated for Women’s Club of the Year. The 2024 Ballon d’Or Féminin winners will be announced in a ceremony in Paris, France on Monday, October 28.
The six NWSL player selections match the 2019 record for the global award when Megan Rapinoe won the title after leading the U.S. to the World Cup title that summer. Over 50 league players were at the Olympics with 29 winning a medal for the U.S., Brazil and Germany.
The full list of 30 player nominees is presented below (thanks to French Sports Magazine L’Equipe):
Barbra Banda (ZAM, 24 years old, Shanghai RCB / Orlando Pride): 28 matches, 31 goals, 6 assists
Aitana Bonmati (ESP, 26 years old, FC Barcelona): 57 matches, 26 goals, 21 assists
Lucy Bronze (ENG, 32 years old, FC Barcelona / Chelsea): 50 matches, 5 goals, 8 assists
Mariona Caldentey (ESP, 28 years old, FC Barcelona / Arsenal): 64 matches, 27 goals, 23 assists
Tabitha Chawinga (MWI, 28 years old, Paris-SG): 38 matches, 29 goals, 14 assists
Grace Geyoro (FRA, 27 years old, Paris-SG): 53 matches, 17 goals, 6 assists
Manuela Giugliano (ITA, 27 years old, AS Roma): 50 matches, 19 goals, 15 assists
Caroline Graham Hansen (NOR, 29 years old, FC Barcelona): 47 matches, 34 goals, 29 assists
Patri Guijarrro (ESP, 26 years old, FC Barcelona): 48 matches, 10 goals, 9 assists
Giulia Gwinn (GER, 25 years old, Bayern Munich): 48 matches, 13 goals, 5 assists
Yui Hasegawa (JAP, 27 years old, Manchester City): 42 matches, 3 goals, 4 assists
Ada Hegerberg (NOR, 29 years old, Olympique Lyonnais): 30 matches, 25 goals, 3 assists
Lauren Hemp (ENG, 24 years old, Manchester City): 43 matches, 17 goals, 14 assists
Lindsey Horan (USA, 30 years old, Olympique Lyonnais): 50 matches, 13 goals, 8 assists
Lauren James (ENG, 22 years old, Chelsea): 37 matches, 19 goals, 7 assists
Marie-Antoinette Katoto (FRA, 25 years old, Paris-SG): 48 matches, 29 goals, 11 assists
Alyssa Naeher (USA, 36 years old, Chicago Red Stars): 47 matches, 15 clean sheets
Sjoeke Nüksen (GER, 23 years old, Chelsea): 56 matches, 13 goals, 7 assists
Ewa Pajor (POL, 27 years old, Wolfsburg / FC Barcelona): 38 matches, 25 goals, 8 assists
Salma Paralluelo (ESP, 20 years old, FC Barcelona): 53 matches, 39 goals, 13 assists
Gabi Portilho (BRE, 29 years old, Corinthians): 37 matches, 5 goals, 4 assists
Alexia Putellas (ESP, 30 years old, FC Barcelona): 43 matches, 15 goals, 10 assists
Mayra Ramirez (COL, 25 years old, Levante / Chelsea): 33 matches, 13 goals, 4 assists
Trinity Rodman (USA, 22 years old, Washington Spirit): 43 matches, 10 goals, 8 assists
Lea Schüller (GER, 27 years old, Bayern Munich): 46 matches, 27 goals, 7 assists
Khadijia Shaw (JAM, 27 years old, Manchester City): 26 matches, 22 goals, 5 assists
Sophia Smith (USA, 24 years old, Portland Thorns): 39 matches, 19 goals, 10 assists
Mallory Swanson (USA, 26 years old, Chicago Red Stars): 27 matches, 13 goals, 7 assists
Tarciane (BRE, 21 years old, Corinthians / Houston Dash): 32 matches, 4 goals
Glodis Viggosdottir (ISL, 29 years old, Bayern Munich): 45 matches, 3 goals, 3 assists
Ballon d'or Women's Club of the Year 2024 nominees
Barcelona - Spain
Chelsea - England
NJ/NY Gotham - USA
Olympique Lyonnais - France
Paris Saint-Germain - France
Women's coach of the year nominees 2024
Sonia Bompastor—Lyon/Chelsea
Arthur Elias—Corinthians/Brazil WNT
Jonatan Giraldez—Barcelona/Washington Spirit
Emma Hayes—Chelsea/USA WNT
Filipa Patao—Benfica
Sarina Wiegman—England WNT
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women’s football. Get your copy today. Follow Tim on X: @TimGrainey