No country has achieved greater success in women’s football than the United States. Since winning their first World Cup in 1991, the USWNT has been a dominant force in the sport, taking home the crown four times with four additional “podium” finishes.
With an emphasis on the collective and a style of play that prioritizes confidently controlling the pitch, the USWNT have always been on the front foot. They are never satisfied in matches, always looking to add more goals to their tally.
So many wonderful footballers have represented the United States at the international level, and they’ve had world-class athletes at every single position in the XI.
Let’s take a look back at the 20 best players to ever suit up for the USWNT.
Kristine Lilly
From 1987 to 2010, Kristine Lilly made appearances for the USWNT and is thus one of the most accomplished players in history for any country.
Lilly’s longevity is something any professional athlete has to admire, and the fact that she played so long as an attacking player makes it doubly impressive. With 354 total appearances at the international level, no player of any gender has earned more international caps throughout their career.
Of course, you have to be an incredible player in order to get on the pitch that many times for the best team in the world. Lilly was a prolific goal-scorer and serial winner who was a part of the fabled USWNT side that won the 1999 World Cup.
In that tournament’s Final, she was responsible for one of the most clutch performances in the history of the World Cup.
Lilly saved the game on the defensive end by making a goal-line clearance to deny China a Golden Goal, and then she sunk the go-ahead penalty in the shootout.
To this day, only Abby Wambach (an out-and-out No. 9) and Mia Hamm (the GOAT) have scored more goals for the USWNT than Kristine Lilly. And Hamm is the only one with more than Lilly’s 106 assists.
Michelle Akers
There have been so many elite athletes to represent the United States women’s football team over the decades, but Michelle Akers just might be the best pure athlete of all of them.
Akers was the star of the USWNT team that absolutely dominated the 90’s, hoisting the trophy in 1991 and 1999. She scored 10 goals in the 1991 edition of the tournament, which was her very first World Cup.
In 155 appearances, Akers found the back of the net 107 times, averaging 0.69 goals per game. Only Abby Wambach has a more prolific goals-to-games ratio in the national team’s history.
Part of what made Akers so good was how she played the game no-holds-barred. She would fly into tackles and absolutely bully the opposition.
Her toughness is the stuff of legend, as she won Olympic gold as a defensive midfielder in 1996 while playing with a torn MCL. Nothing could stop her.
Whether she was scoring goals as a forward or locking down the midfield, Akers could stand head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch.
Megan Rapinoe
Not afraid to take a stand for what is right and go up against the machine, Megan Rapinoe has been a driving force for the “Equal Pay” movement and has spoken out against injustice against Black people and LGBTQ+ people. That has made bigots villainize her, but she has never wavered and has thus become an inspiring figure to many fans.
On the pitch, there is no question that Rapinoe is one of the greatest to ever play this game, and there is a strong case to be made that she is the best pure winger in women’s football history.
Rapinoe was an elite crosser of the ball who could create chances from absolutely nothing, such as her miracle assist to Abby Wambach against Brazil in the semifinals of the 2011 World Cup.
An elite deadball specialist, too, Rapinoe could score goals from free kicks and the penalty spot with a cool head.
As consistent as they come, Rapinoe provided width, got into the box to fight for loose balls, and never stopped working to carry the ball up the pitch for the team.
Rapinoe won the World Cup twice, including the tournament’s Golden Ball and Golden Boot in 2019.
Only Mia Hamm has a better ratio of assists per game than Rapinoe’s 0.36.
Joy Fawcett
Another legendary defender, Joy Fawcett played for the United States national team from 1987 to 2004, even scoring 24 goals in that time span to become the most prolific goal-scoring defender in the country’s history.
Fawcett was a rock for the USWNT, almost never missing a game in the World Cup because of her lockdown defending. She would win the tournament in 1991 and 1999.
Brianna Scurry
Goalkeepers deserve credit, too, and Brianna Scurry was something of an institution between the sticks for the USWNT from 1994 to 2008.
Scurry made nearly 200 appearances, winning the World Cup in 1999 while being named the best goalkeeper of the tournament. She remains second on the all-time leaderboard with 72 career clean sheets at the international level.
Brandi Chastain
Brandi Chastain’s jubilant celebration in which she tore off her shirt after smashing home the winning penalty against China at the 1999 World Cup is one of the most powerful and meaningful images in the history of professional sports.
It’s only fitting that moment came from a player like Chastain, whose leadership and immense presence in the middle of the park made her one of the most powerful and meaningful leaders in the history of the USWNT.
Making nearly 200 appearances for the national team between 1988 and 2004, Chastain won the 1991 and 1999 World Cups. She could play virtually any position, and while she was mostly a defensive player or midfielder, she did have some appearances as an attacking player throughout her career.
Shannon Boxx
There are a lot of football fans around the world who need to give Shannon Boxx more recognition, because she is one of the greatest defensive midfielders of all time.
Unfortunately, the defensive midfield position is not an easy one to receive glamor for, because so much of what they do is based on winning possession and keeping the team’s structure.
Boxx won the World Cup in 2015 and chose to retire on top afterward. A decade earlier, she was one of the finalists to win Player of the Year despite not being an attacking player, which underscores how respected she was.
Of course, Boxx was capable of scoring goals and actually set a record by scoring three goals in her first three matches for the USWNT, but her biggest asset was how much she made her teammates around her better from a midfield position.
Christie Pearce
A first-ballot Hall of Famer, Christie Pearce recently retired in 2017 after two decades of being one of the best center backs on the planet.
Though it is a position that is easy to overlook, Pearce received the utmost respect from fans in the United States for her consistency and willingness to put her body on the line.
One of the best ball-playing center backs, Pearce was so good technically that she was often entrusted to take free kicks, including at the World Cup level.
She won the tournament in 1999 and then again nearly two decades later in 2015. Even later in her career, she was a key player for the USWNT and recognized as one of the best in the world at any position.
In 2015, she was 40 years old when she appeared in the World Cup Final, setting a record as the oldest player in a Final.
Becky Sauerbrunn
One of the greatest of all time, Becky Sauerbrunn’s leadership and defensive skills in the current era have made her one of the most beloved players in the world. Capable of stopping strikers runs before the ball even arrives, Sauerbrunn’s reading of the game and leadership have solidified so many teams at the international and club level.
With 216 all-time caps for the USWNT, Sauerbrunn is one of the most experienced players ever.
Sauerbrunn was a standout on the USWNT sides that took home the 2015 and 2019 World Cup titles, standing out as one of the best center backs in both tournaments.
Off the pitch, she has also been an important advocate for players, becoming president of the players association due to her strong work in leading collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the notoriously misogynistic U.S. Soccer federation.
Alex Morgan
Pretty much the perfect striker in the modern era, Alex Morgan began her career as an explosive prodigy with dazzling skills and developed into an all-around 9 who can score goals with her head, find the back of the net from any angle with either foot, and set up teammates brilliantly with her hold-up play and quality of passing in the penalty area.
Morgan is one of those strikers who can make the other forwards better, serving as a reference point while still finding that necessary winning goal. She ranks fifth in the country’s history in goals scored and is ninth in assists.
A 2015 and 2019 World Cup winner as one of the standouts at both tournaments, Morgan is another USWNT legend who has done a lot of important work off the pitch to stand up for what is right.
Julie Foudy
From 1988 to 2004, Julie Foudy made a whopping 273 appearances for the USWNT, scoring 45 goals from the midfield. Foudy was a key leader and reference point for the entire team in the middle of the park, creating plenty of chances for her teammates.
Only six players in USWNT history have set up more goals than Foudy, who also remains fifth on the all time leaderboard in terms of appearances.
Foudy is also a two-time World Cup champion, having been a part of the sides that won the tournament in 1991 and 1999.
Off the pitch, she is likewise an important advocate for the intersection of women’s and worker’s rights, serving as an example for activists in future generations.
Mia Hamm
Although the GOAT debate isn’t clear-cut, you will be hard-pressed to find many people disputing with the notion that Mia Hamm is the greatest player in the history of the United States women’s national team. If we expand it to a global discussion, perhaps only Brazil’s Marta has had a better career than Hamm.
From 1987 to 2004, Hamm made 276 appearances for her country, scoring 158 goals with 147 assists.
She has the second-most goals in history behind Abby Wambach despite primarily being a playmaker, and her 147 assists are 41 better than the player in second, Kristine Lilly.
Hamm averaged 0.57 goals and 0.53 assists per game, meaning she averaged more than total goal contribution per game throughout her career at the international level. That is mind-blowing.
A mainstream pop culture icon during the 90s and early 2000s when she was playing, Hamm helped get more children and young adults – regardless of gender – into the sport in the United States.
Hamm’s playing style was highly technical and infectious; so many people wanted to emulate her skills and her eye for the killer pass.
The perfect teammate, Hamm led by example and was willing to do anything to help her team win.
So many elite playmakers and goal-scorers with her technical gifts would eschew defending or progressing possession, but Hamm was willing and able to do it all.
Carli Lloyd
A born winner, Carli Lloyd’s attitude and win-at-all-costs mentality could be seen as grating or selfish by some fans, but those who followed Lloyd throughout her career and understood what she is capable of appreciated what she brought to the table.
Lloyd was one of those players opponents hated, because even if they were in the lead, they knew Lloyd was capable of turning a game on its head through her own power of will.
She made a total of 316 appearances from 2005 to 2021, scoring 134 goals in the process. Lloyd could dominate as a midfielder or forward, retiring as the second-most-capped and third-highest-scoring player in the history of the USWNT.
Her half-field goal against Japan in the 2015 World Cup will endure as one of the greatest goals in the history of the sport, accentuated by the fact that it capped a remarkable 16-minute hat trick to start the match.
That performance encapsulates the very best of Carli Lloyd in a nutshell. When she was on the top of her game in the biggest moments, she transcended the game itself and played at a level that should not be humanly possible.
Abby Wambach
The most prolific goal-scorer in the history of the USWNT, Abby Wambach is arguably the best poacher in the history of the women’s game, too. Wambach was unstoppable in the air, physically dominating opponents while having the understanding to always know exactly when to pull off the last defender to get that little bit of space.
Nobody has scored more goals in USWNT history than Wambach’s 184, and she averaged a stunning 0.72 goals per game throughout her career.
Wambach was the prototypical striker, leading the line and smashing home goals with clinical efficiency, making full use of the talents of other superstar forwards like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan.
Aside from the goals, Wambach was a steely leader and could drop deeper to create goals. She was at her best when she was lurking in the box and focusing on scoring, but she was not a one-dimensional forward.
Nor was she just good for tap-ins. Wambach could score precise, smashing goals and was capable of acrobatic finishes as well.
Tiffeny Milbrett
Most football fans around the world have never heard of Tiffeny Milbrett, but she is legitimately one of the best players to ever grace a football pitch.
Milbrett needed only 206 caps to score an even 100 goals, retiring as the country’s seventh-highest-scoring player with an average of about a goal every other game. And she did it while primarily being a playmaker.
Small, shifty, and one of the most skilled dribblers of her time, Milbrett is also sixth on the USWNT all-time leaderboard in assists with the third-best ratio of assists per game (0.31).
Milbrett led the country in scoring in 1999 when they won the World Cup and was right there with Mia Hamm in the discussion as being the very best player on the planet.
