Girma Earns Spot on The Best FIFA Women’s 11 – Stanford Cardinal

STANFORD, Calif. – Former Cardinal Naomi Girma has been named to The Best FIFA Women’s 11 at defender, it was announced on Tuesday.

Emma Hayes, who led Girma and the U.S. Women’s National Team to the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal in just her 10th match as head coach, was named the winner of The Best FIFA Women’s Coach of the Year for 2024. Girma was joined by U.S. captain Lindsey Horan and goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.

In just her third year on the U.S. Women’s National Team, Girma, 24, has grown into one of the world’s best defenders. She put in a magnificent performance at the Olympics where she was the only U.S. field player to play all 600 minutes of the tournament. Girma started all 18 USWNT games in which she played this year, marshalling a U.S. defense that allowed just 12 goals, and just two in the Olympic Games. She finished third in minutes played (1,637) behind only fellow FIFA The Best Women’s 11 members Naeher and Horan. She also scored her first two career international goals in the USA’s 3-0 victory over Argentina on Oct. 30 in Louisville, Ky. In early November, she was named the #2 player in the world on ESPN FC’s Top 50 Women’s Players of 2024. In the NWSL for the San Diego Wave, Girma played 1,715 minutes in 20 matches and was named to the NWSL Best XI Second Team.

A three-time All-Pac-12 selection and three-time team captain for the Cardinal, Girma was a two-time Pac-12 Defender of the Year (2019, 2021) and two-time United Soccer Coaches first-team All-American (2019, 2021) while helping Stanford to a pair of Pac-12 titles (2018-19) and leading the Cardinal to two College Cup appearances (2018-19) – including Stanford’s third NCAA Championship title in 2019.

For her work in the classroom, the 2021 MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist was a CoSIDA Academic All-America first team selection in 2021 and earned 2021 Pac-12 Women’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year.