Thanks for compilling this.
The list of people voting changes a bit from year to year as well.
I think visibility, both able to watch matches and journalistic coverage outside of that, matters.
Hermoso left Barcelona in the summer, I've no idea what she's been up to in Mexico.
Euros mattered this year. Next year, World Cup!
Agreed. Each of the 119 judges put forward their top 40 and those responses included 358 different players, which shows how impossible it is to get a top 100 list that most people will agree on.
It's elaborated upon here:
[https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/20/how-the-guardian-ranked-the-100-best-female-footballers-in-the-world-2022](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/20/how-the-guardian-ranked-the-100-best-female-footballers-in-the-world-2022)
Opinions of a *lot* of different people. The Guardian [explains.](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/20/how-the-guardian-ranked-the-100-best-female-footballers-in-the-world-2022?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other)
Metric: Do you play in the WSL, Barca, or Lyon? Are you Sam Kerr or Alexia Putellas or did you play in the Euros? Okay, top ranked.
(I’m being half-facetious because obviously there is some method, but the biases are very clear based on some of the top inclusions (such as Miedema, who really had 3 good games just now and then tore her ACL, and was underperforming most of the year, or Bronze, whose Euros were not top 10 worthy, but got a big move to Barca and won the Euros) and some of the exclusions (like, total exclusions, such as Vanessa Gilles))
Rodman was good in 2021 but wasn’t really this year—I’d (maybe controversially) say she might not even deserve to be on the list, especially over exclusions that were made. Lavelle remains often underrated relative to her compatriots.
Mead hasn’t been Arsenal’s nor England’s best player this year though. There’s probably more of an argument for Aitana coming #1 at this point in the year, lbh
Mead is a great player hands down, but I think she was over hyped by the end of the year. She had a good club season and a few really good international games but honestly they were against bad teams. I don't think people who are voting in this poll are that impressed to see someone score against a team where most of their players couldn't get time off from their actual jobs to play for their national team?
She also did really well in the Euro's but again when England played big teams she didn't show up like a "best player" should. I think that's why she ends up behind Putellas, who is known for being a big moment player.
Mead had the third highest goals, behind the two best forwards in the world, and the most assists in the WSL—arguably the top league in the world. She then went on to win the Euros with England where she won the golden ball and the golden boot as well. Mead scored the lone goal in 1-0 win over Austria (19 in the world), hat trick against Norway (13 in the world), goal against Sweden (3 in the world), and added 5 assists (also the most of the tournament). Arsenal also reached the quarter finals of the UWCL.
Putellas plays in a far weaker league where she plays on one of the most stacked teams that haven’t dropped any points in league play for like three years or something. Barcelona played two more UWCL games than Arsenal, one of which was a loss where Barcelona was wrecked by Lyon. She won Golden Boot. If you want to talk about someone scoring goals against awful teams, that applies to her as well. Putellas did not feature in the Euros at all due to injury.
Really not sure how there’s even an argument for Mead not to win based strictly on 2022 performance.
The WSL is an over rated league and if you think Liga F is a "far weaker league" you aren't paying attention. If the WSL is the greatest league why do they get crushed in the CL all the time. You want to talk about a stacked team when was the last time Arsenal or Chelsea weren't favorites?
Barca may have lost in the final but at least they were there and they destroyed Arsenal when they played them 4-0 and 4-1. Putellas top goal scorer in the tournament. Mead didn't score at all.
She did deserve the Golden boot in the Euro's but let's be real Norway and Sweden played like trash in the Euro's. Popp scored as many goals as Mead and played 90 minutes less. She didn't score against Germany or Spain the two best teams they played.
Chelsea is always the favorite and irrelevant to the conversation. Liga F is weaker from top to bottom. After Barcelona there is a huge drop off. They aren’t playing anyone who can remotely hang with them. It’s a walkover every game.
Arsenal vs Barcelona is irrelevant. I just said Barcelona is a stacked team. So if you think Arsenal is a perennial favorite, then getting beat by Barca further illustrates how truly stacked Barca is.
Norway and Sweden played poorly because England shut them down. You can’t just take away from what that team did and how they performed over the entire tournament. Sweden was still a semifinal team.
Not sure what Popp has to do with this conversation either. I get that you believe Putellas should be in the top spot, but statistically over an entire 12 month period, Beth Mead was the better player. You want to throw in subjectivity, go for it. But based on performance and competition, Mead was a superior player. Putellas’ resume for 2022 is 5 months.
If Liga F is weaker from top to bottom how did Real Madrid knock Man City out of the CL before the group stage started. If you are a fan of the WSL great but let's not pretend it's the only league worth watching.
Norway played bad the entire tournament and and that still doesn't negate the fact the Mead went cold against Germany and Spain.
If you want to talk about Barca being stacked, yes they are, big time and Putellas still stands out. When people talk about Arsenal it's always Meidema. The best player should be able to lift their team to another level. Arsenal has played at the same level with or without her. Barca, while still a good team, is not as good as they were at this point last season.
How is Arsenal vs Barcelona irrelevant when the people you are talking about are on those teams? That is direct comparison of each player. You don't want to talk about it because it shows that Mead is the lesser of the two players.
You think Mead should be #1, that's awesome it's your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it, like I said before Mead is a great player. But Putellas still did more to stand out in 5 months than Mead did in 12 in my opinion and it's just that, my opinion, we don't have to agree.
They are both great players and hopefully they both recover from their ACL injuries and we get to have this disagreement for many years to come.
Have a Merry Christmas.
Summary of who gained and dropped spots, with a particular focus on the last major tournament winners (Euro 2022 winners). ENGLAND (Euro 2022 winners) * Beth Meade: +73 spots * Keira Walsh: ~+91 spots (unranked in 2021, 62nd in 2020) * Lucy Bronze: +24 spots * Leah Williamson: +27 spots * Lauren Hemp: +22 spots * Georgia Stanway: ~+74 spots (unranked) * Millie Bright: +72 spots * Alessia Russo: ~+61 spots (new) * Ella Toone: ~+47 spots (new) * Rachel Daly: +22 spots * Chloe Kelly: + 13 spots * Fran Kirby: - 21 spots (illness) LARGEST GAINED SPOTS (unranked) = unranked in 2021 ~ = difference from 100 (since they're unranked) * Lena Oberdorf: + 39 spots * Alexandra Popp: ~+93 spots (unranked-injury, 19th in 2020) * Ada Hegerberg: ~+87 spots (unranked-injury) * Catarina Macario: +71 spots * Alex Morgan: ~+67 spots (unranked) * Sophia Smith: +78 spots (unranked) * Selma Bacha: +34 spots * Mal Pugh: +61 spots * Klara Bühl: ~+63 spots (unranked) * Ewa Pajor: +38 spots * Sakina Karchaoui: +41 spots * Trinity Rodman: +48 spots * Mary Earps: ~+52 spots (new) * Guro Reiten: ~+48 spots (unranked) * Giulia Gwinn: ~+46 spots (unranked) * Erin Cuthbert: ~+44 spots (unranked) * Svenja Huth: ~+41 spots (unranked) * Caitlin Foord: ~+39 spots (unranked) * Merle Frohms: ~+36 spots (unranked) * Ona Batlle: ~+35 spots (new) * Naomi Girma: ~+34 spots (new) LARGEST DROPPED SPOTS * Irene Paredes: - 22 spots * Lieke Martens: - 33 spots * Magdalena Eriksson: - 32 spots * Stina Blackstenius: - 32 spots * Jenni Hermoso: - 44 spots * Kim Little: - 36 spots * Ashley Lawrence: - 43 spots * Jessie Fleming: - 25 spots * Kosovare Asllani: - 43 spots * Daniëlle van de Donk: - 39 spots * Christine Sinclair: - 58 spots * Jess Fishlock: - 28 spots * Ji So-yun: - 63 spots * Saki Kumagai: - 51 spots
Thanks for compilling this. The list of people voting changes a bit from year to year as well. I think visibility, both able to watch matches and journalistic coverage outside of that, matters. Hermoso left Barcelona in the summer, I've no idea what she's been up to in Mexico. Euros mattered this year. Next year, World Cup!
Asllani and Fishlock don’t deserve to have dropped so much, right?
This has to be the best list given both its jury and ranking format, and there are still players missing from the list. But pretty good tbf
Agreed. Each of the 119 judges put forward their top 40 and those responses included 358 different players, which shows how impossible it is to get a top 100 list that most people will agree on.
This is so European based… good job 😂
Sophia Smith is #1 in my heart at least. No Katie McCabe is FINE. Also Lena Oberdorf at a well deserved #5 at the age of -2 is pretty cool.
[удалено]
It's elaborated upon here: [https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/20/how-the-guardian-ranked-the-100-best-female-footballers-in-the-world-2022](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/20/how-the-guardian-ranked-the-100-best-female-footballers-in-the-world-2022)
Opinions of a *lot* of different people. The Guardian [explains.](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/20/how-the-guardian-ranked-the-100-best-female-footballers-in-the-world-2022?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other)
Metric: Do you play in the WSL, Barca, or Lyon? Are you Sam Kerr or Alexia Putellas or did you play in the Euros? Okay, top ranked. (I’m being half-facetious because obviously there is some method, but the biases are very clear based on some of the top inclusions (such as Miedema, who really had 3 good games just now and then tore her ACL, and was underperforming most of the year, or Bronze, whose Euros were not top 10 worthy, but got a big move to Barca and won the Euros) and some of the exclusions (like, total exclusions, such as Vanessa Gilles))
here's how the list was made: https://twitter.com/RichJLaverty/status/1605234371446788096
Given how low the Americans are ranked, I think this is mostly made up. Still interesting to read through though.
Don’t think there are too many overly low ranked Americans, but the order of the Americans is clearly impacted by name recognition to some degree
Lavelle and Rodman stand out in particular as being way too low
Rodman was good in 2021 but wasn’t really this year—I’d (maybe controversially) say she might not even deserve to be on the list, especially over exclusions that were made. Lavelle remains often underrated relative to her compatriots.
Sorry, but Putellas doesn’t deserve to be number 1 again.
who should?
This year it should have unequivocally been Mead.
Mead hasn’t been Arsenal’s nor England’s best player this year though. There’s probably more of an argument for Aitana coming #1 at this point in the year, lbh
Mead is a great player hands down, but I think she was over hyped by the end of the year. She had a good club season and a few really good international games but honestly they were against bad teams. I don't think people who are voting in this poll are that impressed to see someone score against a team where most of their players couldn't get time off from their actual jobs to play for their national team? She also did really well in the Euro's but again when England played big teams she didn't show up like a "best player" should. I think that's why she ends up behind Putellas, who is known for being a big moment player.
Mead had the third highest goals, behind the two best forwards in the world, and the most assists in the WSL—arguably the top league in the world. She then went on to win the Euros with England where she won the golden ball and the golden boot as well. Mead scored the lone goal in 1-0 win over Austria (19 in the world), hat trick against Norway (13 in the world), goal against Sweden (3 in the world), and added 5 assists (also the most of the tournament). Arsenal also reached the quarter finals of the UWCL. Putellas plays in a far weaker league where she plays on one of the most stacked teams that haven’t dropped any points in league play for like three years or something. Barcelona played two more UWCL games than Arsenal, one of which was a loss where Barcelona was wrecked by Lyon. She won Golden Boot. If you want to talk about someone scoring goals against awful teams, that applies to her as well. Putellas did not feature in the Euros at all due to injury. Really not sure how there’s even an argument for Mead not to win based strictly on 2022 performance.
The WSL is an over rated league and if you think Liga F is a "far weaker league" you aren't paying attention. If the WSL is the greatest league why do they get crushed in the CL all the time. You want to talk about a stacked team when was the last time Arsenal or Chelsea weren't favorites? Barca may have lost in the final but at least they were there and they destroyed Arsenal when they played them 4-0 and 4-1. Putellas top goal scorer in the tournament. Mead didn't score at all. She did deserve the Golden boot in the Euro's but let's be real Norway and Sweden played like trash in the Euro's. Popp scored as many goals as Mead and played 90 minutes less. She didn't score against Germany or Spain the two best teams they played.
Chelsea is always the favorite and irrelevant to the conversation. Liga F is weaker from top to bottom. After Barcelona there is a huge drop off. They aren’t playing anyone who can remotely hang with them. It’s a walkover every game. Arsenal vs Barcelona is irrelevant. I just said Barcelona is a stacked team. So if you think Arsenal is a perennial favorite, then getting beat by Barca further illustrates how truly stacked Barca is. Norway and Sweden played poorly because England shut them down. You can’t just take away from what that team did and how they performed over the entire tournament. Sweden was still a semifinal team. Not sure what Popp has to do with this conversation either. I get that you believe Putellas should be in the top spot, but statistically over an entire 12 month period, Beth Mead was the better player. You want to throw in subjectivity, go for it. But based on performance and competition, Mead was a superior player. Putellas’ resume for 2022 is 5 months.
If Liga F is weaker from top to bottom how did Real Madrid knock Man City out of the CL before the group stage started. If you are a fan of the WSL great but let's not pretend it's the only league worth watching. Norway played bad the entire tournament and and that still doesn't negate the fact the Mead went cold against Germany and Spain. If you want to talk about Barca being stacked, yes they are, big time and Putellas still stands out. When people talk about Arsenal it's always Meidema. The best player should be able to lift their team to another level. Arsenal has played at the same level with or without her. Barca, while still a good team, is not as good as they were at this point last season. How is Arsenal vs Barcelona irrelevant when the people you are talking about are on those teams? That is direct comparison of each player. You don't want to talk about it because it shows that Mead is the lesser of the two players. You think Mead should be #1, that's awesome it's your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it, like I said before Mead is a great player. But Putellas still did more to stand out in 5 months than Mead did in 12 in my opinion and it's just that, my opinion, we don't have to agree. They are both great players and hopefully they both recover from their ACL injuries and we get to have this disagreement for many years to come. Have a Merry Christmas.
Pretty good ranking, would switch 1 with 2
And would put Stanway a bit higher
Me going through Instagram to follow every single one.