The Ballon d’Or Feminin has been part of the most prestigious set of individual awards in world football since 2018 when Ada Hegerberg made history as the first ever winner.
The women’s game is growing exponentially year on year and Euro 2022 was an expected catalyst for a boost in England particularly, while Lyon and Barcelona flew the flag high in Europe.
There are more top stars and household names than ever before and the 2022 edition of the Ballon d’Or promises to be a fierce battle with so many deserving contenders.
There are 20 names on the full shortlist, but here is a ranked list of the top 10…
Club: Barcelona
Country: Spain
Team honours: Liga F, Copa de la Reina
Individual honours: N/A
Building on a player of the match performance in the 2021 Champions League final, Aitana Bonmati has spent the last year underlining her status as one of the world’s best midfielders. She had an incredible season with Barcelona and won an army of new fans for Spain at Euro 2022.
Club: Lyon
Country: Norway
Team honours: Champions League, Division 1 Feminine
Individual honours: N/A
Ada Hegerberg was back in 2021/22 after nearly two years out because of a long-term knee injury. She wasn’t quite back to her pre-injury levels, but still had a great record and scored important goals in the latter stages of the Champions League – including the decisive goal in the final.
Club: San Diego Wave
Country: USA
Team honours: CONCACAF W Championship
Individual honours: NWSL regular season top scorer, CONCACAF W Championship Golden Ball
Alex Morgan has been back to her best in 2022 after a quieter couple of years and is rightly in contention for the Ballon d’Or. She got 15 goals in 17 appearances for San Diego Wave in the NWSL regular season and was joint top scorer as the United States were crowned CONCACAF champions.
Club: Wolfsburg
Country: Germany
Team honours: Frauen-Bundesliga, DFB Pokal Frauen
Individual honours: N/A
Alexandra Popp has successfully reminded people of her world class credentials with her performances for Wolfsburg and Germany. Six goals at Euro 2022 ended an international drought and if there was an award for comeback of the year it would easily be hers.
Club: Wolfsburg
Country: Germany
Team honours: Frauen-Bundesliga, DFB Pokal Frauen
Individual honours: Euro 2022 Young Player of the Tournament
Lena Oberdorf has emerged over the last 12 months as arguably the best young midfielder in the world. She was a domestic double winner with Wolfsburg at club level, was named Euro 2022…
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