Aitana Bonmatí finishes top of our rankings for a second consecutive year, with Caroline Graham Hansen second and Sophia Smith third
10 Naomi Girma
Age24
TeamSan Diego Wave / USA
PositionDefender
Rank36 2023 ▲26
“I’ve never seen a player as good as her at the back. She’s got everything …poise, composure, anticipates, leads. I mean, wow. Unbelievable.” Big words spoken by the United States head coach, Emma Hayes, after one of many colossal performances from the centre-back Girma. This particular statement came after the Paris 2024 semi-final win over Germany which set the US up for gold in the summer. Her outstanding performances often made it look like she had a magnet in her boots – so often would a dangerous cross be swept up by Girma with a sixth sense for defending her own penalty area. Only the team struggles of the San Diego Wave denied her more honours than a place in the Second Best XI in the NWSL, but it was on the grandest stage where Girma showed her best in 2024.
09 Mallory Swanson
Age26
TeamChicago Red Stars / USA
PositionForward
RankRe-entry
You will be hard pushed to find many people not happy for Swanson in 2024. The flying forward was in fine form in 2023 before she tore the patella tendon in her left knee, seeing her miss the World Cup and the rest of the year. It was as ill-timed an injury denying a player at her peak a shot at a major tournament. Fear not though, Swanson breaks into the top 10 on this list for the first time with seven goals and four assists for the Chicago Red Stars. However, it was in Paris where she showed her best form, with four goals and two assists, including the sole goal in the gold medal match, propelling the United States back to the top of the world game.
08 Salma Paralluelo
Age20
TeamBarcelona / Spain
PositionForward
Rank3 2023 ▼5
The 2023 breakout star, Paralluelo went from nowhere straight to the top three last year but injury issues in the second half of 2024 possibly denied her repeat of that feat. The hotshot forward ended the 2023-24 campaign with 20 league goals in 19 matches, just one behind the eventual top scorer Caroline Graham Hansen, while another six in the Champions League contributed to another European triumph. Her Olympics were frustrating as she played in an isolated centre-forward role, but she showed her best when moved out left, helping her team in a dramatic quarter-final comeback against Colombia.
07 Barbra Banda
Age24
TeamOrlando Pride / Zambia
PositionForward
RankRe-entry
It was only a matter of time before Zambia’s Banda burst onto the world stage in a major domestic league. That opportunity presented itself in 2024 when the Orlando Pride paid the second-highest transfer fee in women’s football history to prize her out of China. Banda has been the talismanic figure that propelled the Pride from perennial punchlines to champions, her 13 goals and six assists guiding Orlando to first place in the regular season and a first NWSL Shield. At Paris 2024 she scored her third major tournament hat-trick, against Australia, reaffirming her place among the world’s elite strikers.
06 Lindsey Horan
Age30
TeamLyon / USA
PositionMidfielder
Rank21 2023 ▲15
The US captain Horan makes the top 10 for the first time, surpassing her best finish of 12th back in 2018. Emma Hayes could only wax lyrical about her captain after their Paris Olympics success, going as far as to make Horan cry in the post-match press conference. “She has put performance first, winning first … she took hard decisions with the players and I really admire that in her. I can see not only why she’s a leader of this team, but she made my job so much easier because she was firm with everyone, but also very fair.” After leading the US to gold in the summer, the midfielder is second in the scoring ranks in France this season, scoring nine goals for reigning champions Lyon so far.
05 Trinity Rodman
Age22
TeamWashington Spirit / USA
PositionForward
Rank50 2023 ▲45
Another member of the US’s attacking trio to place inside the top 10, Rodman flies up from the very edge of the top 50 into No 5 in 2024 after a breakthrough year for the Washington Spirit and the US national team. Rodman had 14 goal involvements for the Spirit en route to the NWSL championship final, scoring eight goals in the regular season and going from strength to strength under the former Barcelona head coach Jonatan Giráldez. At the Olympics, Rodman scored three goals, playing a key role in securing a gold medal in the first major tournament under Emma Hayes.
04 Khadija Shaw
Age27
TeamManchester City / Jamaica
PositionForward
Rank24 2023 ▲20
Shaw rockets up to the top five for the first time after a year where she led the way in the WSL. The Jamaican has threatened for several seasons to go to new levels with Manchester City and in 2024 it finally happened. Her importance cannot be overstated and the injury she sustained in the final games of last season potentially cost City a second WSL title. Up to that point, Shaw had scored 21 goals, winning the golden boot a hefty eight goals clear of Lauren James and Elisabeth Terland. A mixture of outright quality, movement and strength, she ended the year as the WSL Player of the Season, PFA Players’ Player of the Season and FWA Footballer of the Year.
03 Sophia Smith
Age24
TeamPortland Thorns / USA
PositionForward
Rank18 2023 ▲15
Smith also reaches her highest-ever ranking after a year where she shone for the Portland Thorns and played a key role in the United States’ gold-medal success in Paris at the Olympics. The forward scored three and assisted two in Paris, including a crucial winner against Germany in the semi-finals. “I kind of blacked out a little bit, it was a lot of emotions, but I just remember seeing the ball hit the back of the net and being like ‘we did it’.” While Portland did not have their best NWSL season, Smith’s 12 goals saw her trail only Barbra Banda and Temwa Chawinga in the goalscoring list, with six assists to go with it.
02 Caroline Graham Hansen
Age29
TeamBarcelona / Norway
PositionForward
Rank7 2023 ▲5
Graham Hansen comes second in 2024, her highest-ever ranking and her first time in the top three. There was a compelling argument for the Barcelona and Norway winger to be No 1 this year after a trophy-laden 2023-24 season, with an incredible 40 goal involvements in Liga F, her 21 goals seeing her finish as the league’s top scorer. A further five goals and five assists in the Champions League helped Barcelona to another European title, while the new season has seen her continue in the same fashion as a key component of Barça’s 100% winning start.
01 Aitana Bonmatí
Age26
TeamBarcelona / Spain
PositionMidfielder
Rank1 2023 ▶
Bonmatí retains the No 1 spot in our Top 100, emulating her 2023 success after also winning a second consecutive Ballon d’Or last month. “It is also a credit to my teammates who make me a better player,” said the Barcelona and Spain international, yet it’s testament to Bonmatí that, in a star-studded squad such as Barça’s, the elegant midfielder has set herself apart from her peers for a second successive year, with all 99 judges voting for her somewhere in their personal lists. Bonmatí ended the 2023-24 campaign with 19 goal involvements in all competitions, as well as six goals and six assists on the way to another Champions League triumph. In the final of Europe’s elite club competition, as the best so often do, Bonmatí popped up with the critical opening goal against Lyon and has continued to place herself at the forefront of the world game.