And we have a quick update to the NWSL expansion team bidding process, which we discussed two weeks ago (see: The Week in Women's Football: Expansion battle; NWSL review PII; Chicago change - TribalFootball.com), with Denver being selected to proceed exclusively in negotiations with the NWSL.
ESPN FC Women’s Football Top 50 Football Players of 2024
Earlier this year, we presented the 2023 ESPN top 50 rankings, following a Women’s World Cup Year (see: The Week in Women's Football: Rating ESPN's top 50; comparing IFFHS rankings - Tribal Football). The annual rankings began in 2021.
TribalFootball.com aggregated the number of countries and leagues represented by the top 50:
Spain (9)
U.S. (8)
England (6)
France (6)
Norway (3)
Brazil (2)
Colombia (2)
Germany (2)
Malawi (2)
Canada (1)
Denmark (1)
Haiti (1)
Jamaica (1)
Japan (1)
Poland (1)
Republic of Ireland (1)
Scotland (1)
Sweden (1)
Zambia (1)
Even though the top 50 players were from 19 countries, they primarily came from clubs in four leagues: England’s WSL (14), the U.S.-based NWSL (13), Liga F in Spain (13), Premiere Ligue in France (9), along with one from the Frauen-Bundesliga in Germany, showing that for teams with top players, they are centered with just a few leagues due to better budgets, salaries and playing resources. We do expect Liga MX Femenil to join that list in the years to come, as it continues to attract top talent from Spain, North America and throughout Central and South America. We will examine Liga MX Femenil’s imports this season and summarize the 2024-25 Apertura (Opening) Championship, which concluded earlier last month, in a column early in 2025.
ESPN also looked at some key statistics for this year’s top 50: at the club level, there are: “16 different teams represented. Barcelona lead(s) 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 two African countries.”
ESPN also summarized this year’s voting format, which included coaches and media: “The voting panel included 18 women’s football experts from around the world, including current and former coaches for top-tier club teams or national teams, general managers, administrators and journalists were asked to anonymously pick their top 50 players. Using a ranked ballot, each No. 1 vote was worth 50 points, and each No. 50 vote was worth one point, with the total points aggregated.
The voters were:
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 and founder of The Equalizer in the U.S.
Caitlin Murray, ESPN editor.
The Top 50 List:
50. Esther González
Country: Spain
Club: NJ/NY Gotham FC
Age: 31
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
49. Sjoeke Nüsken
Country: Germany
Club: Chelsea
Age: 23
Position: Central midfielder/Striker
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
48. Grace Geyoro
Country: France
Club: Paris Saint-Germain
Age: 27
Position: Central midfielder
2023 rank: 38 (▼ down 10 spots)
47. Ingrid Engen
Country: Norway
Club: Barcelona
Age: 26
Position: Central midfielder
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
46. Sakina Karchaoui
Country: France
Club: Paris Saint-Germain
Age: 28
Position: Left back/Forward
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
45. Tarciane
Country: Brazil
Club: Houston Dash
Age: 21
Position: Defender
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
44. Rose Lavelle
Country: United States
Club: NJ/NY Gotham FC
Age: 29
Position: Central midfielder
2023 Rank: 47 (▲ up 3 spots)
43. Pernille Harder
Country: Denmark
Club: Bayern Munich
Age: 31
Position: Central midfielder
2023 Rank: N/A (★ reentry)
42. Millie Bright
Country: England
Club: Chelsea
Age: 31
Position: Center back
2023 Rank: 18 (▼ 24)
41. Vanessa Gilles
Country: Canada
Club: Lyon (loan from Angel City)
Age: 28
Position: Center back
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
40. Irene Paredes
Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 33
Position: Defender
2023 Rank: 49 (▲ 9)
39. Katie McCabe
Country: Republic of Ireland
Club: Arsenal
Age: 29
Position: Defender/midfielder
2023 Rank: 24 (▼ 15)
38. Erin Cuthbert
Country: Scotland
Club: Chelsea
Age: 26
Position: Central midfielder
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
37. Guro Reiten
Country: Norway
Club: Chelsea
Age: 30
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: 36 (▼ 1)
36. Fridolina Rolfö
Country: Sweden
Club: Barcelona
Age: 30
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: 7 (▼ 29)
35. Olga Carmona
Country: Spain
Club: Real Madrid
Age: 24
Position: Left back
2023 rank: 10 (▼ 25)
34. Emily Fox
Country: United States
Club: Arsenal
Age: 26
Position: Right back
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
33. Lauren Hemp
Country: England
Club: Manchester City
Age: 24
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: 22 (▼ 11)
32. Alex Greenwood
Country: England
Club: Manchester City
Age: 31
Position: Center back/Left back
2023 Rank: 50 (▲ 18)
31. Selma Bacha
Country: France
Club: Lyon
Age: 23
Position: Defender
2023 rank: N/A (★ debut)
30. Alyssa Naeher
Country: United States
Club: Chicago Red Stars
Age: 36
Position: Goalkeeper
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
29. Delphine Cascarino
Country: France
Club: San Diego Wave FC
Age: 27
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: N/A (★ reentry)
28. Salma Paralluelo
Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 20
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: 5 (▼ 18)
27. Lucy Bronze
Country: England
Club: Chelsea
Age: 33
Position: Right back
2023 Rank: 23 (▼ 4)
26. Marta
Country: Brazil
Club: Orlando Pride
Age: 38
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: N/A (★ reentry)
25. Ann-Katrin Berger
Country: Germany
Club: NJ/NY Gotham FC
Age: 34
Position: Goalkeeper
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
24. Marie-Antoinette Katoto
Country: France
Club: Paris Saint-Germain
Age: 26
Position: Striker
2023 Rank: N/A (★ reentry)
23. Mayra Ramírez
Country: Colombia
Club: Chelsea
Age: 25
Position: Striker
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
22. Ewa Pajor
Country: Poland
Club: Barcelona
Age: 27
Position: Forward
2023 rank: 42 (▲ 20)
21. Melchie Dumornay
Country: Haiti
Club: Lyon (moved this summer to Seattle Reign)
Age: 21
Position: Forward
2023 rank: 37 (▲ 16)
20. Ona Batlle
Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 25
Position: Right back
2023 Rank: 25 (▲ 5)
19. Temwa Chawinga
Country: Malawi
Club: Kansas City Current
Age: 26
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
18. Patri Guijarro
Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 26
Position: Central midfielder/Center back
2023 Rank: 16 (▼ 2)
17. Lindsey Horan
Country: United States
Club: Lyon
Age: 30
Position: Central midfielder
2023 Rank: 29 (▲ 12)
16. Kadidiatou Diani
Country: France
Club: Lyon
Age: 29
Position Forward
2023 rank: 12 (▼ 4)
15. Mallory Swanson
Country: United States
Club: Chicago Red Stars
Age: 26
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: N/A (★ reentry)
14. Yui Hasegawa
Country: Japan
Club: Manchester City
Age: 27
Position: Central midfielder
2023 Rank: 44 (▲ 30)
13. Alexia Putellas
Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 30
Position: Central midfielder
2023 Rank: N/A (★ reentry)
12. Tabitha Chawinga
Country: Malawi
Club: Lyon
Age: 28
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
11. Linda Caicedo
Country: Colombia
Club: Real Madrid
Age: 19
Position: Forward
2023 rank: 4 (▼ 7)
10. Lauren James
Country: England
Club: Chelsea
Age: 23
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: 11 (▲ 1)
Lauren James has been a key forward for Chelsea and England and will continue to be for Chelsea’s 2024-25 UEFA WCL campaign—they were unbeaten in the recently completed group stage—and for England’s EURO 2025 Finals hopes this coming summer.
9. Keira Walsh
Country: England
Club: Barcelona
Age: 27
Position: Central midfielder
2023 Rank: 17 (▲ 8)
She was at one time the world’s most expensive women’s player when she joined Barcelona from Manchester City for €400,000 (U.S. $500,000) in 2022. Chelsea and Arsenal in particular tried to ply her away during the recent off-season with an offer of $1.375 million dollars plus add-ons totaling $1.163 million—which would have obliterated the current world record for a women’s footballer transfer, but Barca felt that she was too crucial to let go. She has two goals in 12 league games this season and one in the WCL.
8. Trinity Rodman
Country: United States
Club: Washington Spirit
Age: 22
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: N/A (★ reentry)
Rodman was stellar this summer as the U.S. won the 2024 Paris Olympic Gold Medal; she scored the winner in the Quarterfinals against Japan in extra time. In 2022, she made the ESPN top 50 at number 33, but missed out last year. She helped D.C. to the 2024 NWSL final, losing 1-0 to Orlando Pride.
7. Mariona Caldentey
Country: Spain
Club: Arsenal
Age: 28
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: 30 (▲ 23)
Caldentey won the Women’s World Cup with Spain in 2023, three Champions League titles with Barcelona (2021, 2023, 2024) in four years and moved to Arsenal in the WSL this summer. In the league, she has one goal in nine league matches, but she has an incredible five goals in nine Women’s Champions League games in 2024-25 for the Gunners.
6. Khadija "Bunny" Shaw
Country: Jamaica
Club: Manchester City
Age: 28
Position: Striker
2023 Rank: 32 (▲ 26)
She scored 50 goals in 57 league matches in her first three seasons with Manchester City in the WSL, capturing the Golden Boot last season with 21 goals—one short of the league record; she missed three games at the end of the season with an injury. This season, she has nine goals in nine league matches and five WCL goals in five games. She has 27 goals for Jamaica but has not played for a while with her nation with a dispute over the team’s 2023 WWC bonus pay and other issues. The Jamaica Football Federation needs to prioritize bringing her back into the fold ahead of the 2027 WWC Qualifiers.
5. Sophia Smith
Country: United States
Club: Portland Thorns
Age: 24
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: 13 (▲ 8)
Sophia Smith was a revelation during the American’s 2024 Olympic Games title, scoring three goals—all against Germany in two matches—including the semifinal winner in extra time (1-0). She finished third in the NWSL in scoring this season with 12 goals—the only American in the top five (behind Malawi’s Temwa Chawinga with 20 and Zambia’s Barbra Banda on 13 but ahead of Spain’s Esther and Brazil’s Marta, who both had nine goals).
4. Caroline Graham Hansen
Country: Norway
Club: Barcelona
Age: 28
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: 15 (▲ 11)
Caroline Graham-Hansen has not received the acclaim that she deserves—in large part because Norway has underperformed at recent EUROs and WWCs, but she has always been lights-out for Barcelona for years. Last season she had 21 goals in 25 Liga F matches. She has won three WCL titles with Barca and two runner-up finishes—plus one title victory with Wolfsburg in Germany in 2015-16. She has won four league titles in Spain, three in Germany and one in Norway. This year she has seven goals in 13 league matches and three in the Champions League.
3. Barbra Banda
Country: Zambia
Club: Orlando Pride
Age: 24
Position: Forward
2023 Rank: N/A (★ debut)
One of the NWSL announcers did what many of us who follow the NWSL that when she said that she was: “getting on the Banda-wagon.” She didn’t lead the league in scoring but finished second with 13 goals behind fellow Southern African international and first year NWSL player Temwa Chawinga (who also had been playing in China), but she provided a crucial spark to Orlando’s turnaround season of winning the NWSL Shield as the regular season champion and then the league championship title in the playoff final. She was known to many fans for scoring three hat-tricks across the last two Olympic Games Finals, but followers of her club game in China knew how impressive she was as a forward—with her introduction to the NWSL, she is now legitimately one of the top three players in the world. The “Banda-wagon” will be rolling for many years to come.
Banda’s move to the Orlando Pride earlier this year marked the second-highest women’s transfer (US$740,000) behind Zambian WNT teammate Racheal Kundananji ($862,000), whose move to Bay FC a few weeks earlier remains the world record for a women’s footballer transfer fee—for now.
2. Naomi Girma
Country: United States
Club: San Diego Wave
Age: 24
Position: Center back
2023 Rank: 21 (▲ 19)
USWNT head coach Hayes called Girma “the best defender I’ve ever seen” during this summer’s Olympic Games, which ended with a Gold Medal around her neck. The Wave fell off in 2024 after winning the NWSL Shield in 2023 but should bounce back with her return to the backline in 2025. She played college football at Stanford University and won a College Cup title in 2019. Girma is simply a winner and is so competent in the backline that she helps others players perform at their best.
1. Aitana Bonmatí
Country: Spain
Club: Barcelona
Age: 26
Position: Central midfielder
2023 Rank: 1 (⇔ unchanged)
Aitana Bonmatí finished at the top of the ESPN Top 50 list for the second consecutive season; she also won France Football’s Ballon d’Or as well in the last two seasons. She helped Barça win the quadruple for the first time ever, consisting of the Liga F title, the UEFA Women’s Champions League, the Copa de la Reina and the Spanish Supercopa. She scored in the Champions League semifinal comeback aggregate tie win against Chelsea and in the final against Lyon, when she was selected player of the match as Barça won the competition for the second successive year. She also scored in the inaugural final of the UEFA Women’s Nations League as world champions Spain beat France in the inaugural campaign. She scored 19 goals in 41 games (eight in 24 in the league) with Barca last season and has four goals in 11 Liga F games this season (with two goals in six WCL games).
2025 Women’s EUROs draw
The draw for the 2025 Women EURO Finals was held earlier this month, following the playoffs to determine the last seven teams in the competition (see our column earlier this month: The Week in Women's Football: Reviewing '25 Euros playoffs; TP Mazembe pull off shock CAF title triumph - TribalFootball.com). Games will be held in eight cities across Switzerland from July 2-27: Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Sion, Thun and Zurich.
In Group A, Switzerland has a chance to advance to the knockout stage against Norway, Finland and Iceland. You would expect Norway to advance given their history of winning titles in the Women’s World Cup and Olympics, but their form has been so inconsistent of late that it is hard to predict how they will perform. At this point, TribalFootball.com sees Norway as the Group winners with Finland and Switzerland’s match a key to determining who will finish in second place.
In Group B, Spain—the reigning WWC and UEFA Nations League champions—should win this difficult group with Italy, Portugal and Belgium. Portugal could edge Italy for second place and they are on a 12 game unbeaten run. Italy did defeat Germany 2-1 in a friendly on December 2 away in Bochum and should never be overlooked.
In Group C, Germany and Sweden should advance against Denmark and Poland. It will be interesting to watch debutants Poland, who are blazing a trail for Central and Eastern Europe—joining Russia (who debuted in 1997) and Ukraine (in 2009) as the only Finals side from the region—particularly with Ewa Pajor starring at Barcelona in her first season in Liga F.
In Group D, reigning EURO champions England faces France, Netherlands and debutants Wales. England should advance but either France or Netherlands will not move onto the quarterfinals, which will have a devastating impact on that team, particularly with the next WWC two years away.
TribalFootball.com will preview the sides and have key news prior to and during the 2025 Women’s EURO Finals.
Denver selected to negotiation exclusively with the NWSL for the 16th expansion franchise slot
Two weeks ago, this column discussed the final three bidders for the 16th NWSL expansion franchise, which is due to start play for the 2026 season (see: The Week in Women's Football: Expansion battle; NWSL review PII; Chicago change - TribalFootball.com). This column and other analysts in North America thought that Cincinnati would triumph over Cleveland and Denver. However, just before the Christmas holidays, it was reported that Denver had entered an exclusive contract with the NWSL in order to conclude the league entry process—a process which has been done in other North American leagues who use the franchise model.
It was a surprise because Cincinnati had a dedicated soccer stadium and a well-run organization that had moved from the USL second tier into Major League Soccer and is quite engrained in the community. They had recently added WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark to their ownership group. However, Denver—of which little was known about—was selected and is expected to pay the league at least a $100 million franchise fee; I have seen reports that it could be as high as $120 million. Boston—the 15th franchise which will also start in 2026—paid $53 million when they were awarded the expansion franchise in September of 2023. The Equalizer learned that Rob Cohen, chairman and CEO of IMA Financial Group, is the lead investor and would be the majority owner. The team is exploring building their own stadium, which likely would not be ready for the 2026 season, so they would have to play somewhere else prior to its completion.
MLS’ Colorado Rapids play in the soccer-specific Dicks’s Sporting Goods Park, which opened in 2007 and seats 18,000 people for soccer; it has hosted 15 men’s and women’s national team games in the past including a famous men’s World Cup Qualifier in March of 2013 against Costa Rica (a 1-0 U.S. victory) that was played in a blinding snowstorm that probably should have been postponed, but it was spell-binding to watch. This column will continue to update the reader on the NWSL expansion front for Boston and Denver in 2025.
Happy New Year to all of our readers!
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