Top 100 Female Footballers of 2020

For the fifth 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 88 judges from 42 countries, led by top coaches such as Vlatko Andonovski, Jean-Luc Vasseur, Mark Parsons and Peter Gerhardsson, plus legends including Lotta Schelin, Anja Mittag and Rhian Wilkinson, voted on this year’s top 100.

They are backed up by a selection of coaches, journalists and broadcasters, as well as others including new judges Jessica Houara D’Hommeaux, Verena Schweers, Ella Masar, Rita Guarino and Maria Pry.

Our 88 judges are drawn from around the world as follows: Africa 8, Asia 11, Europe 41, North and Central America 15, South America 10 and Oceania 3.

The countdown begins on Tuesday 8 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

• Ifeoma Dieke Former Scotland international with 123 caps; represented Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics
• Lauren Duncan Former SASOL League player who is now South Africa team manager and project manager for the Janine Van Wyk Girls School league
• Gemma Fay Former Scotland international with 203 caps
• Sarah Gregorius Former New Zealand international with 100 caps; won the FA WSL with Liverpool in 2013
• Jessica Houara D’Hommeaux Former France international with 64 caps; played for both PSG and Lyon
• Shamila Kohestani Former Afghanistan international and national team captain
• Stefanía Maggiolini Former Uruguay international and youth team coach
• Ella Masar Former USA international; played for Chicago Red Stars, PSG, FC Rosengård and Wolfsburg
• 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
• Lydia Monyepao Former South Africa international footballer
• Melissa Ortiz Former Colombia international with 28 caps; represented her country at the 2012 London Olympics
• Pauliina Miettinen Former Finland international with 26 caps
• Diana Redman Former Israel international with 24 caps
• Adriana Rodrigues Former Portugal international with 6 caps
• Jenny Ruiz Former Mexico international who represented her country at the 2015 World Cup
• Elena Sadiku Former Sweden youth team international; played for LdB Malmo and went onto become FC Rosengård assistant coach
• Lotta Schelin Former Sweden international with 185 caps; won an Olympic silver medal, three league titles with Lyon and three Champions League titles
• Verena Schweers Former Germany international with 47 caps; won two Bundesliga titles and two UEFA Champions Leagues with Wolfsburg
• Leonne Stentler Former Netherlands international with 13 caps; won the Eredivsie with ADO Den Haag in 2012
• Rhian Wilkinson Former Canada international with 180 caps; won bronze at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics
• Mami Yamaguchi Former Japan international with 18 caps; started the 2008 Champions League final for Umea IK

Coaches

• Fran Alonso Celtic manager
• Vlatko Andonovski USA national team head coach
• Jené Baclawski St Kitts & Nevis national team head coach
• Betty Bavagnoli AS Roma manager
• Colin Bell South Korea national team head coach
• Kim Björkegren Apollon Limassol manager
• Hubert Busby Jr Jamaica national team head coach
• Lisa Cole Former NWSL coach and current Antigua & Barbuda national team head coach
• James Clarkson Houston Dash manager
• Pamela Conti Venezuela national team head coach
• Freya Coombe Sky Blue FC manager
• Marnelli Dimzon Philippines national team head coach
• Rae Dower Australia U17 head coach and technical advisor for the FFA
• Jonas Eidevall FC Rosengard manager
• Desiree Ellis South Africa national team head coach
• Gert Engels INAC Kobe manager
• Peter Gerhardsson Sweden national team head coach; won the bronze medal at the 2019 World Cup
• Jake Goodship Brisbane Roar manager
• Rita Guarino Juventus manager
• Laura Heffernan Shelbourne assistant manager
• Christy Holly Racing Louisville manager
• Willie Kirk Everton manager
• Stephan Lerch VfL Wolfsburg manager; won the Bundesliga in 2019
• José Letelier Chile national team head coach
• Pedro Losa Bordeaux manager; former Arsenal manager
• Jarmo Matikainen Estonia national team head coach
• Joe Montemurro Arsenal manager; won the FA WSL in 2019
• Mark Parsons Portland Thorns manager; won the NWSL Shield and Coach of the Year in 2016
• Maria Pry Levante manager
• Ricardo Rambo Hong Kong national team head coach
• Tom Sermanni New Zealand national team head coach
• Anna Signeul Finland national team head coach; former head coach of Scotland
• Jessica Silva Metz FC manager
• Tatiele Silveira Ferrovaria manager
• Martin Sjögren Norway national team head coach
• Lars Søndegaard Denmark national team head coach
• Stephanie Spielmann Tahiti national team head coach
• Jean-Luc Vasseur Lyon manager
• Randy Waldrum Nigeria national team head coach

Media

• Samuel Ahmadu Women’s football writer in Nigeria for Goal.com
• Juliana Arreguy Women’s football writer in Brazil for UOL
• Olga Bagatini Brazilian women’s football writer based in the UK
• Romain Balland Women’s football broadcaster in France for Eurosport and TF1
• Arka Bhattacharya Women’s football writer in India
• Mariana Cabral Women’s football writer in Portugal for Expresso
• Javiera Court Arrau Women’s football writer in Chile
• Syanie Dalmat Women’s football writer in France for L’Equipe
• Seraina Degen Women’s football writer in Switzerland for SRF Sport
• Maria Fernandes Mora Women’s football broadcaster in Mexico for FOX Sports
• Anna Friberg Women’s football writer in Sweden for Expressen
• Harjeet Johal Women’s football writer in Canada for Equalizer Soccer
• Ewurama Kakraba-Ampeh African women’s football writer based in the UK
• Rich Laverty Women’s football writer in the UK; creator of the Top 100
• Sophie Lawson Women’s football writer in the UK
• Samantha Lewis Women’s football writer in Australia for The Guardian, OPTUS Sport and ESPN Australia
• Gianluca Lia Women’s football writer in Malta for the Times of Malta
• Antonio Loma-Osorio Women’s football writer in Chile
• David Menayo Women’s football writer in Spain for MARCA
• Pamela Del Olmo Women’s football writer in Mexico
• Annemarie Postma Women’s football writer and author in the Netherlands
• Sandra Prusina Women’s football broadcaster in Canada for 660 News
• Chantal Reyes Women’s football writer in Spain
• Romina Sacher Women’s football writer in Argentina
• Adriana Terrazas Women’s football writer in Mexico for TUDN
• Hanna Urbaniak Women’s football writer in Poland; former Poland youth team international
• Julia Wanjeri Women’s football writer in Africa; creator of JWSports
• Suzanne Wrack Women’s football writer in the UK for The Guardian

How they made their choices

• Our judges were sent a longlist of players from around the world and asked one simple question: who have been the best female players in the world in 2020?

• 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 No1 votes is used as a tie-break, followed by individual votes cast.

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.