After Alexia Putellas reigned in 2021 and 2022, her Barcelona and Spain teammate Aitana Bonmatí has been crowned the top female footballer of 2023 by the Guardian’s panel of 112 experts. The World Cup winner triumphed by a clear margin, finishing more than 500 points ahead of second-placed Sam Kerr.
Injuries and a World Cup meant there was a definite changing of the guard feel to this year’s list, sadly emphasised by the fact last year’s top two – Putellas and Beth Mead – missed a large chunk of our 12-month voting period with ACL injuries.
Kerr, who was also in the top three last year, will now miss most of 2024 with the same injury, sustained this month during a training camp with Chelsea.
With Bonmatí in top form again this season and Barcelona looking like they are staying at the top of the European game – as well as Spain moving into the Uefa Nations League finals – the brilliant midfielder could top the list for some time, unless injury strikes as it has with several other stars of the sport. Out of our 112 judges, 103 voted the Spaniard their No 1 player of 2023.
Both Bonmatí and Kerr received 111 votes, with Salma Paralluelo in third the only other player to receive votes from more than a hundred of our judges – the top three were well clear of the chasing pack.
Two new entrants make the top 10: Kerr’s teammate Lauren James in 10th and the Barcelona and Spain teenager Paralluelo rocketing straight into the top three, ahead of her club teammates Keira Walsh and Fridolina Rolfö.
Walsh, along with Alexandra Popp and Caroline Graham Hansen, consolidate a top 10 spot from last year, while Mapi León and Mary Earps move up into that section for the first time.
Jenni Hermoso, Lucy Bronze, Wendie Renard, Pernille Harder, Saki Kumagai and Lieke Martens-van Leer are the only players to have made the list every year since 2016, while 31 players make their debut on the list, a sign of the quality of the women’s game continuing to rise year after year.
Unsurprisingly, Barcelona lead the way with 15 of their players in the top 100 (six of them in the top 10), including new entrants such as the goalkeeper Cata Coll, who was a surprise standout star for Spain in the World Cup knockout stages.
Lyon have 10 players in the top 100, as do Arsenal, while the Women’s Super League remains the dominant division, with 31 current players in the top 100. Liga F have 24, while nationality-wise Spain, just as they did in the World Cup final, beat England to top spot with La Roja having 15 players in this year’s ranking to the 12 Lionesses.
Australia and the Netherlands are risers on the list, both having eight players in the top 100, ahead of the USA who are down to seven but still ahead of France and Sweden on six. World Cup performances are reflected with Japan also having five names on the list and Colombia three, including the Real Madrid superstar Linda Caicedo.
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Caicedo is also the youngest player in this year’s list, just ahead of the USA talent Alyssa Thompson, and there is a quartet of 20-year-olds in Paralluelo, Melchie Dumornay, Mary Fowler and Esmee Brugts.
Experience counts too, though, with Kosovare Asllani, Alex Morgan and Eugénie Le Sommer – the latter returning to the top 100 – all 34 years old with the Lyon and France forward one of four players to return to the rankings after dropping out last year, along with Tabitha Chawinga, Katie McCabe and Sandra Paños.
Caicedo is also the highest mover – with 38 players from 2022 moving up in the list this year – rising 61 places from a year ago. Dumornay moves up 53 places and Brazil’s NWSL star Kerolin 43 places, while the Lionesses duo Chloe Kelly and Earps are also sharp risers.
It’s also a good year for goalkeepers with a record total of nine shot-stoppers on the list, reflecting some of the top performances at the summer’s World Cup, with Mackenzie Arnold, Chiamaka Nnadozie and Zecira Musovic all first-time entrants.
Overall, 329 players received votes this year, and there is a clear nod to the future with many young stars receiving their first ones despite not making the top 100: Jaedyn Shaw, Vicky López, Anna Tamminen, Romée Leuchter, Aoba Fujino, Mara Alber, Wieke Kaptein, Vicki Becho, Olivia Moultrie and Julie Dufour. It would be no surprise to see these names make the top 100 in the coming years.
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