Ranking the 10 best women’s footballers in the world right now in 2023

Who are the best women’s footballers in the world right now? With so much quality in Europe’s top five leagues, Liga MX, Australia, and, of course, the ultra-competitive NWSL, it seems like it is an impossible task to narrow the list down to 10. And then, it seems even more futile to try and sort those exclusive 10, elite of the elite footballers into a ranking.

However, we aim to do our best and help you learn more about the most dominant footballers on the planet. So here are the 10 best women’s footballers in the world right now, updated before the 2023 World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.

10. Bunny Shaw

Khadija “Bunny” Shaw was one of the breakout stars of the 2019 World Cup. Just a couple of years later, Shaw would score 22 goals with 7 assists for D1 Arkema’s third-placed team Bordeaux, parlaying that fantastic season into a transfer to Manchester City in the FA WSL

The rest, as they say, is history. Shaw was arguably the best player in the FA WSL last season, leading the line for an exciting Manchester City attack with 20 goals and 7 assists. The 26-year-old is entering the prime of her career as one of world football’s most devastating finishers and consistent strikers.

Shaw is so good at finding weaknesses in the opposing defense. She has a knack for getting in behind the defense and getting into space, as her ability to read the game makes her equally dangerous in a possession scheme or a counterattacking scheme. Because she is so good at scoring goals, it’s easy to underrate how good she is at creating them, too. Shaw is an enviable reference point for City, as the runs she makes help open space for the other attackers.

9. Alex Morgan

There is no doubt that Alex Morgan is one of the most accomplished players in the history of world football. She went from being a highly-skilled phenom with explosive dribbling skills for the Portland Thorns to becoming a perennial NWSL MVP candidate and one of the most well-rounded No. 9’s in world football.

An icon for the USWNT, Morgan had two goals and one assist in 215 minutes of action at her first World Cup, as the United States fell short in the final. From then on, Morgan has been undefeated, hoisting the most prestigious trophy in football in both 2015 and 2019, standing out as arguably the best player of the tournament with six goals and three assists.

In that 2019 World Cup, Morgan didn’t just score goals. She created so many opportunities for her teammates by holding the ball up, drawing in defenders, and quickly combining with teammates to keep the ball moving. Morgan is the ideal striker in modern football, because she can “win” in so many ways. Her technical level is of the highest order, but so is her ability to interpret space and find passing angles.

Already this season, Morgan is at five goals and four assists in the NWSL through 11 matches. The previous season, Morgan had 15 goals and 3 assists, averaging 1.13 goals and assists per 90 as an MVP candidate, helping the San Diego Wave reach the playoffs in their first season of existence.

A natural leader and an example for so many footballers in terms of how to play the game, Morgan is one of the most recognizable stars in world football. She will go down in history as one of the great forwards to ever play this game, and she is undoubtedly one of the world’s best right now.

8. Mallory Swanson

A torn left patellar tendon tragically ruled Mallory Swanson out of the 2023 World Cup and all but two games of the 2023 NWSL season, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is one of the very best footballers in the world right now.

Swanson didn’t win the 2022 MVP award in the NWSL, but that’s only because Sophia Smith had an even more outrageous season for the champion Portland Thorns. But if we were talking about players who elevated their teams the most, then Swanson was on another level. The Chicago Red Stars would have been nowhere near the postseason without Swanson.

It’s truly remarkable how Swanson is able to gallop past defenders. She never runs out of energy and keeps the ball glued to her feet, courageously taking on player after player. And yet as chaotic as her runs are to the defense, she always has a plan on exactly when to shoot, how to set up the angle of the defender so that she has a clear opportunity to score, and even when to release the pass instead.

In 2022, Swanson scored 11 goals with 6 assists, averaging a jaw-dropping 1.23 goals and assists per 90 minutes. Though she was always a great NWSL player, the 2022 season was when, at 23 years old, Swanson took that true step towards entrenching herself as a superstar in U.S. women’s football.

It’s sad that Swanson didn’t get a chance to show that quality on the global stage at the World Cup, but to football fans familiar with her 2022 season and all the work she put in to get there before as one of the most sensational young talents in world football, Swanson clearly merits praise as one of the best footballers on the planet today.

7. Ada Hegerberg

The 2018 Ballon d’Or winner and UEFA’s best women’s footballer in Europe two years before that, Ada Hegerberg is another striker for whom the word “legacy” comes to mind immediately.

Hegerberg was willing to sacrifice adding to that legacy statistically by sitting out of the 2019 World Cup amidst inequitable treatment by the Norwegian footballing federation. So many great players in women’s football have been willing to take a strong stand against gender-based discrimination, and Hegerberg took the ultimate step there.

In recent years, Hegerberg has been slowed by injury, but that doesn’t change the fact that when she is at full strength, it is obvious to anyone watching her that she is still the benchmark at the No. 9 position. Hegerberg is outstanding at winning battles in tight spaces, dominating aerial duels, and shielding the ball to create opportunities for teammates.

A traditional 9, Hegerberg poaches goals and acts as a target player better than anyone. Hegerberg’s technique and physical tools put her in a league of her own. When she was at her most unstoppable, Hegerberg scored 31 goals in the French top flight at the age of 22, and then she had 20 goals and 11 assists for Lyon one season later.

Even these past two seasons when she played just a combined 1,210 minutes, Hegerberg is averaging over 1.50 goals and assists per 90 in D1 Arkema play. That is a different kind of dominance. With more matches, Hegerberg should be able to climb back into the top five (or three), but, for now, she has to be ranked a little lower. Not as any sort of slight on her, but rather because the other players on this list are that magnificent.

6. Christiane Endler

Goalkeepers need to get praised on the list of the best players in the world, too, and Christiane Endler has earned a reputation that is effectively insurmountable at the goalkeeper position. There are other wonderful footballers in goals around the world, such as Juventus’ Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, but Endler remains the absolute benchmark.

Endler has won D1 Arkema in three consecutive seasons. The first of those three came with PSG before leaving for Lyon, effectively switching places with another legendary keeper in Sarah Bouhaddi. Endler recorded some truly astonishing numbers in her first season with Lyon, saving 88.2 percent of the shots she faced with a clean sheet percentage above 70, allowing just 0.36 goals against per game.

Her numbers in 2022/23 for Lyon, repeating as French champions, were similarly exceptional. Endler rarely makes mistakes in goal, and she is capable of making saves that keep her team in matches. We saw examples of that throughout the last season, again.

Endler has played for dominant teams in French football, so it is perhaps most striking to watch her in goal for her national team, Chile. At the 2019 World Cup, Endler turned heads with some of the best saves ever seen at the World Cup stage, including this one below:

Chile went up against Sweden and the USWNT in their group as massive underdogs, yet thanks to Endler, they managed to punch above their weight, allowing 5 goals in those two matches. To compare, Endler saved 4.4 goals above what an average keeper would be expected in those two matches.

Endler, when taking stock of her raw talent and overall body of work, has to be considered the best goalkeeper in the history of women’s football. In her prime at the age of 31, Endler is one of the best in the world today, regardless of position.

5. Mapi León

It is often hilarious to read some of the criticism of Mapi León. There are fans of clubs other than Barcelona that are tired of La Blaugrana’s sheer dominance, so they will come up with ticky-tack reasons to try and discredit truly transcendent players like León. But there can be no mistaking the fact that León is a special talent at center back. She is a transformative, generational player who has helped change the way the game is played.

Maybe that sounds like an exaggeration, but watch the quality of her set pieces from corner and free kicks. Look at the way she creates chances as a deep-lying playmaker, even though she is also one of the most ferocious and intelligent center backs at marking defenders. Spanish football has quite the legacy of all-around brilliance at the center back position, and León is very much part of that history.

Last season for Champions League and Liga F winners Barcelona, León averaged 13.2 progressive passes per game in the UWSL and 11.6 per game in league play. Those are unheard-of numbers at any position, but they are downright devilish at the center back position.

Yes, sometimes her aggressive style of play can cause her to get caught out, but that comes with the territory of being an actual great center back. These players gamble because they have the talent to change the game with their ability on the ball and the quality of tackles they can make. Those “negative” plays make for salacious discussion and debate, but they are inconsequential over the course of the season, especially in comparison to the positives.

León is an absolute titan of the game for Barcelona and Spanish football as a whole. She is a world-class player in the prime of her career and someone who, scarily enough, seems to only be getting better every season.

4. Sophia Smith

Though she is only 22 years old, Portland Thorns forward Sophia Smith already has a seat at the table as one of the players in the discussion for being the absolute best player in the world.

The reigning NWSL MVP, Smith was also the MVP of the title match between Portland and the upstart Kansas City Current, taking over the final with her sheer all-around brilliance. Smith is the perfect winger. She scores, assists, and starts so many attacks with her relentless playing style and confidence, eating up acres of space as she adeptly progresses play for the best team in the United States top flight.

Smith, though this may be hard to believe, is already off to a better 2023 season than her MVP-winning campaign. Honestly, that’s not even up for debate. Last season, Smith scored 14 goals with 3 assists in 18 matches as a second-year sensation. To start her third season, Smith has 10 goals and 5 assists through the first 12 matches. That means she is improving her ratio of goals and assists per 90 from 1.06 to 1.28.

In addition to the end product, Smith’s underlying numbers are fantastic. The former No. 1 overall pick out of Stanford is creating 6.22 shots per 90 – nearly a full shot more than last season. That is a mind-blowing statistic and only serves to underscore this brilliant young superstar’s all-around impact on the Thorns. She also averages 6.4 progressive carries and 3.4 take-ons per 90, doing much of the groundwork to create chances herself.

Scarily enough, Smith is just scratching the surface. It is only a matter of time before she takes the top spot on a list like this one.

3. Aitana Bonmatí

Before the 2022 European Championships began, Alexia Putellas suffered a torn ACL, taking her out of the tournament and the vast majority of the upcoming 2022/23 season. Although Barcelona made the previous two Champions League finals, they were bested in the 2021/22 tournament by another powerhouse in Lyon. (Ada Hegerberg scored one of the goals, by the way.) Thus, football fans were wondering if Barça could stumble further without the biggest icon in the women’s game.

Instead, Barcelona were just as dominant in the 2022/23 Champions League. Really, their brilliance was never in doubt until the final, when Wolfsburg jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Yet once again, Barça prevailed, with a rapid-fire brace from Patri Guijarro helping the Blaugrana overcome the odds with a 3-2 win against another elite side.

Aitana Bonmatí was a standout in that final and throughout the 2022/23 tournament. She was by far the best player in the UWCL, showing an ability to rise above any opponent and to outshine even the best of the best in the world. That has to make her considered one of the truly elite players in the modern game, because a Champions League tournament like that is a rare sight.

Look at the statistics. They jump off the page. Aitana had 5 goals and 8 assists as a midfielder in a 4-3-3, playmaking and progressing play with such quality that she had fans – home and away – on their feet with her sheer technical class. The way Aitana sees the game is generational. She pulls the strings and bosses the final third in such a way that it reminds us of all the legendary figures who have plied their trade at the venerable Nou Camp.

Aitana added 9 goals and 10 assists in Liga F, with Barcelona cruising to another title. She averaged over a goal contribution per 90 in both competitions, nearly 9 progressive passes per 90 in both, and over 3.3 progressive carries per 90 in both. Aitana is the perfect attack-minded midfielder, linking the stable defensive structure and fluid attack of Barça perfectly. She just about never loses the ball and consistently makes the right pass at the right time.

2. Caroline Weir

Barcelona and Real Madrid fans can heatedly debate the second position between Aitana Bonmatí and Caroline Weir for hours on end, because both are just about equally brilliant footballers who are in the early stages of building all-time great legacies for themselves. Yet Weir, the newest Galáctica, has to get the edge for all that she did to carry Madrid to victories.

There is no Champions League group stage appearance for Real Madrid without Weir’s goal against former employers Manchester City. Even Las Blancas’ Liga F season is cast in doubt without Weir, who was quite literally at the heart of everything good about Madrid.

Weir was a quality player for Manchester City over the years, dazzling with some of the most beautiful goals we saw in European football. Yet she completely elevated her game to becoming one of the world’s biggest superstars under the weight of the Real Madrid kit, taking on the responsibility of being their new superstar after Kosovare Asllani’s departure – and then some.

In the young history of the Madrid women’s team, there have been some great footballers, including Spanish internationals like Maite Oroz and Athenea del Castillo who have created great reputations from relative obscurity. However, nobody can hold a candle to the genius of Weir.

With 19 goals and 12 assists in the last Liga F season, Weir was the most dominant all-around attacking player in the league from a scoring and creative perspective. She did it all for Madrid, producing moments of magic with her skill, technique, and ingenuity that few could replicate. Weir averaged 5.6 progressive passes and over 3 key passes per 90 as a forward who scored nearly 20 goals. Absurd.

1. Alexia Putellas

Even though she could not play for the vast majority of the 2022/23 season due to a horrible injury, Alexia Putellas is still definitely the best women’s footballer in the world until someone can prove otherwise. And that is going to be incredibly difficult to do, given all that Putellas has accomplished in becoming an inspirational figure towering above the rest.

Putellas is football. The way she plays, lives, and breathes the game is palpable. Putellas is so good that you can feel the energy from the stadium emanating from your screen. She has such a special aura about her that nobody in world football – and I mean nobody – comes close to the impact she has on the game. Putellas has the ball, her opponents, and the whole world watching her on strings when she takes the pitch.

The 2021 and 2022 Ballon d’Or winner, Putellas scored 11 goals and 2 assists in her unforgettable 2021/22 Champions League tournament – one of the best individual tournament performances we have ever seen. Putellas averaged 12.6 progressive passes and 7.9 shot-creating actions per 90. Those are numbers so unbelievable that they are incomprehensible. A single player creating 8 shots a game while scoring more than once a game? Ridiculous. Simply ridiculous.

There are so many wonderful footballers in the world, yet the fact that Putellas is the undisputed No. 1 is a testament to her greatness. Every time you get to watch her play, enjoy it. Because one day, you will yearn to have those days back.