Top 100 Female Footballers of 2019

For the fourth year running The Offside Rule is running the top 100 female footballers of the year and once again we are collaborating with the Guardian who will also be publishing the list across their website and newspaper.

A voting panel of 93 judges from 44 countries, led by the new US women’s national head coach Vlatko Andonovski and legends such as Sun Wen, Lotta Schelin, Aya Miyama and Anja Mittag.

They are backed up by a selection of coaches, journalists and broadcasters, as well as others including current Reign FC and Wales midfielder Jess Fishlock and Arsenal’s FA WSL-winning manager Joe Montemurro.

The former internationals have thousands of international caps between them while the managers have won titles in England, USA and even a FIFA World Cup.

Our 93 judges are drawn from around the world as follows: Africa 8, Asia 14, Europe 44, North and Central America 14, South America 12.

The countdown begins on Tuesday 3 December with Nos 100-71. On Wednesday we will reveal Nos 70-41, on Thursday Nos 40-11 before the top 10 on Friday completes this year’s list.

The Top 100 rules are explained beneath the list of judges.

 

Players

• Sun Wen Former China international with 163 caps and 106 goals; won the Golden Boot and Golden Ball at the 1999 World Cup
• Anja Mittag Former Germany international who won a World Cup and three European Championships; joint top goal scorer in the history of the UEFA Champions League
• Aya Miyama Former Japan international with 162 caps; scored in the 2011 World Cup final when Japan beat USA
• Lotta Schelin Former Sweden international with 185 caps; won an Olympic silver medal, three league titles with Lyon and three Champions League titles
• Jess Fishlock Current Reign FC and Wales international with 101 caps for her country. Currently out with an ACL injury
• Annike Krahn Former Germany international with 137 caps; won two European Championships and the 2007 World Cup
• Rhian Wilkinson Former Canada international with 180 caps; won bronze at the 2016 Olympics
• Gemma Fay Former Scotland international with 203 caps for her country
• Dyanne Bito Former Netherlands international with 146 caps; won two Eredivisie titles
• Thora Helgadottir Former Iceland international with 108 caps for her country; part of the Iceland squad for Euro 2009 and Euro 2013
• Natalia Pablos Former Spain international with 13 goals in 22 caps; won three Spanish league titles and the FA Cup with Arsenal
• Katri Mattsson Former Finland international with 100 caps for her country; part of the Finland squad for Euro 2009 and Euro 2013
• Jenny Ruiz Former Mexico international who represented her country at the 2015 World Cup
• Kirsty Yallop Former New Zealand international with 90 caps for her country
• Mami Yamaguchi Former Japan international with 18 caps for her country; started the 2008 Champions League final for Umea IK
• Lydia Monyepao Former South Africa international footballer
• Jordan Angeli Former Boston Breakers, Washington Spirit and Western New York Flash player; current commentator and analyst for the NWSL
• Lauren Duncan Former SASOL League player who is now South Africa team manager and project manager for the Janine Van Wyk Girls School league
• Tashana Vincent Former Jamaica international footballer
• Iona Rothfeld Former Chile international
• Hania Urbaniak Former Poland youth team international and currently a sports journalist covering women’s football
• Diana Redman Former Israel international wit 24 caps for her country
• Blanka Penickova Former Slavia Prague captain and current assistant manager
• Shamila Kohestani Former Afghanistan international and captain

 

Coaches

• Vlatko Andonovski USA national team head coach
• Peter Gerhardsson Sweden national team head coach; won the bronze medal at the 2019 World Cup
• Paul Riley North Carolina Courage manager; won the NWSL Championship in 2016 and 2018
• Joe Montemurro Arsenal manager; won the FA WSL in 2019
• Olivier Echouafni PSG manager; former France national head coach
• Stephan Lerch VFL Wolfsburg manager; won the Bundesliga in 2019
• Ante Milicic Australia national team head coach
• Mark Parsons Portland Thorns manager; won the NWSL Shield and Coach of the Year in 2016
• Martin Sjogren Norway national team head coach
• Lluis Cortes FC Barcelona manager
• Carolina Morace AC Milan manager; 105 goals in 150 caps for her country as a player
• Arjan Veurink Netherlands national team assistant manager
• Tom Sermanni New Zealand national team head coach; former USA and Orlando Pride manager
• Lars Sondegaard Denmark national team head coach
• Even Pellerud Former Norway and Canada national team head coach; won the 1995 World Cup with Norway
• Jonas Eidevall FC Rosengard manager
• Pedro Losa Bordeaux manager; former Arsenal manager
• Anna Signeul Finland national team head coach; former head coach of Scotland
• Hege Riise LSK manager; former Norway international with 188 caps and one of only three women to win the World Cup, European Championships and Olympic gold
• Thomas Dennerby Former Nigeria and Sweden national team head coach
• Hue Menzies Jamaica national team head coach
• Jens Scheuer FC Bayern Munich manager
• Jose Letelier Chile national team head coach
• Desiree Ellis South Africa national team head coach
• Carrie Kveton Fortuna Hjorring manager
• Melissa Andreatta Brisbane Roar manager
• Betty Bavagnoli AS Roma manager
• Monica Knudsen Valerenga manager
• Jose Catoya Venezuela national team head coach
• Grant Scott Hibernian FC manager
• Antonia Is Spain Under 17 national team head coach; won the 2018 Under-17 World Cup
• Katayoun Khosrowyar Head coach of the Reign FC Academy; former head coach of Iran’s Under-19 national team
• Vanessa Arauz Former Ecuador national team head coach
• Jarmo Matikainen Estonia national team head coach
• Stephanie Spielmann Tahiti national team head coach
• Stefania Maggiolini Uruguay Under 17 national team head coach; former international footballer
• Lisa Cole Former NWSL coach and current Antigua & Barbuda national team head coach
• Jene Baclawski Kitts & Nevis national team head coach

 

Media

• Rich Laverty Women’s football writer in the UK; creator of the Top 100
• Suzy Wrack Guardian women’s football writer
• Caitlin Murray Women’s football writer and author in the USA
• Romain Balland Women’s football writer and broadcaster for Eurosport
• Jasmina Schweimler Women’s football writer in Germany
• David Menayo MARCA women’s football writer in Spain
• Syanie Dalmat L’Equipe women’s football writer in France
• Frida Fagerlund Sportbladet women’s football writer in Sweden
• Mariana Cabral Expresso women’s football writer in Portugal
• Harjeet Johal Women’s football writer in Canada
• Bea Redondo Women’s football writer in Spain
• Julia Wanjeri Women’s football writer; creator of JWSports in Africa
• Bruno Bezerra Women’s football writer in Brazil
• Annemarie Postma Women’s football writer and author in the Netherlands
• Sarah Groube Women’s football writer in Australia
• Seraina Degen SRF Sport women’s football writer in Switzerland
• Sophie Lawson Women’s football writer in the UK
• Samuel Ahmadu Goal women’s football writer in Nigeria
• Adriana Terrazas ESPN women’s football writer in Mexico
• Leticia Lazaro Women’s football writer in Brazil
• Chen Qingyang Women’s football writer in China
• Antonio Loma-Osorio Women’s football writer in Chile
• Pamela Del Olmo Women’s football writer in Mexico
• Juliana Arreguy Women’s football writer in Brazil
• Romina Sacher Women’s football writer in Argentina
• Javiera Court Arrau Women’s football writer in Chile
• Ewurama Kakraba-Ampeh Women’s football writer in Africa; based in England
• Olga Bagatini Women’s football writer in Brazil
• Arka Bhattacharya Women’s football writer in India
• Firew Asrat Women’s football writer in Ethiopia
• Gianluca Lia Women’s football writer in Malta

How they made their choices

• Our judges were sent a longlist of more than 400 footballers drawn from leagues on every continent and asked one simple question: who have been the best female players in the world in 2018?

• We asked our judges to choose 40 names each, and rank their selection in order from 1-40, No1 being their choice of the best female player in the world this year.

How the voting works

• The No 1 choice of each judge was awarded 40pts, No 2 given 39pts, down to 1pt for their No 40 choice. All the votes were added together to give a raw score.

• To minimise the influence of outliers in the list, the highest score awarded to a player was then deducted to give a final score.

• A player needed to receive votes from at least three judges to qualify for the list.

• If players are level on points in the scoring, the number of individual votes cast is used as a tie-breaker.

• The individual voting breakdown will be published when the full list has been revealed.

Voting disclosure

• We are very grateful to our judges for taking part, and none have been paid for participating in this project.

• To allow our judges the freedom to express their opinions without fear or favour, individual voting records will be anonymised in the full breakdown of scores.

• Voters are identified only by their category and a number chosen at random. The judges’ numbers bear no relation whatsoever to the alphabetical list of judges’ names presented above.