1Sam Kerr
Age26
TeamChicago Red Stars / Australia
PositionForward
Rank2 2018 ▲1
From third, to second, to first. Kerr is in the top three for the third year in a row and for the first time is the No 1. How to top a record-breaking 16 NWSL goals in 2018? Score 18. Kerr's goal tally in the 2019 NWSL season was astounding and she was six goals clear of the next best opponent. Her partnership with Yuki Nagasato was a thing of beauty and the sublime nature of her movement, pace and intellect made so many of her goals look so simple. Whether it was her two goals in a big win against the Courage, her four in one game against Jamaica at the World Cup or the hat-trick she scored against Orlando Pride a week after missing a penalty in Australia's World Cup exit, there were goals and class aplenty from Kerr throughout 2019. As rumours swirled of a new challenge for 2020, Kerr will start the new year in fresh surroundings with Chelsea in the FA WSL and it is hard not to be excited about the prospect of seeing her in new territory at the absolute peak of her powers.
2Lucy Bronze
Age28
TeamLyon / England
PositionDefender
Rank4 2018 ▲2
Some, including her international manager, believe Bronze to be the best in the world and while many may dispute it, there is no doubt she is out front as the best in her position. Bronze ranks inside the top five for a third year running and only narrowly misses out on top spot. After her performance in the World Cup quarter-final win against Norway in which she cracked in a stunning goal from the edge of the penalty area, she was the name being touted for all the awards but a sub-par performance in the semi-final largely put paid to that. She did, though, win Uefa's Player of the Year award and was a Ballon d'Or nominee. She once again won the league with Lyon and another Champions League in devastating fashion against Barcelona and it feels as if Bronze is a player fully comfortable with her role and embracing how good she is.
3Megan Rapinoe
Age34
TeamReign FC / USA
PositionMidfielder
Rank10 2018 ▲7
Rapinoe saved her best for the biggest occasion in 2019. Her domestic year amounted to a handful of games and no goals, but the month in which she led the USA to a World Cup triumph will live long in the memory. Rapinoe used her skill, movement and precision to devastating effect in the key moments in France. She kept her calm to slot home two penalties against Spain in the second round before her pinnacle came in the quarter-final against France in front of a partisan Parisian crowd. Her early free-kick and subsequent iconic celebration set the tone for a night that would be hers and hers only. A second half tap-in at the back post sent the hosts packing and while she was a surprise omission for the semi-final, the left winger returned to have the first say in the final against the Netherlands, coolly converting a penalty early in the second half to set the USA on their way. Rapinoe's year polarises opinion due to her lack of match action elsewhere, but there can be no argument few had a bigger influence on the USA's back-to-back World Cup success than Rapinoe.
4Ada Hegerberg
Age24
TeamLyon / Norway
PositionForward
Rank3 2018 ▼1
Hegerberg drops out of the top three in a year where the World Cup had a big bearing on the rankings, but to be fourth after missing the tournament shows just how good the striker is and how highly regarded she is around the world. Hegerberg had registered a staggering 20 goals in 14 games across all competitions for Lyon by the end of November, and possesses an almost unique ability to score freely with either foot, her head or create chances for herself and others. She has two hat-tricks and five doubles to her name since the season kicked off in August. But her best moments came in the Champions League final, where an incredible 16-minute hat-trick in the first half-hour devastated Barcelona and sealed a third European trophy in a row for all-conquering Lyon. A true star, Hegerberg continues to get better and better.
5Amandine Henry
Age30
TeamLyon / France
PositionMidfielder
Rank6 2018 ▲1
Henry, the top-ranked midfielder in 2019, rises up a position after another superb year. She is simply the all-round midfielder, with the ability to pass, score, dictate and be a crucial cog for the most successful club in Europe. Henry does not score many goals but when she does they tend to be big ones, her only club goal in the first half of 2019 coming in the Champions League semi-final win against Chelsea. Maybe Henry was saving her goals for the biggest stage of all as she struck a beauty in France's opening game of the World Cup before popping up with a winner in extra-time of their second-round match against Brazil. But goals are only a small part of Henry's game; what makes her great is that she has so much more. She has returned to Lyon in fine form, is at the peak of her game and has added a goal or two more to her CV in the new season.
6Vivianne Miedema
Age23
TeamArsenal / Netherlands
PositionForward
Rank15 2018 ▲9
Miedema's superb form at the end of 2018 was hard to top in 2019 but the Dutch sensation has certainly had a good go at it. Five goals in her opening five games of the year was a useful start before six more helped seal Arsenal's first WSL title in seven years. For the Netherlands, she became her nation's all-time top scorer and her World Cup brought three goals on the biggest stage and another major tournament final. Miedema came out of the tournament in top form once again, and had scored 14 goals in across all competitions by the end of November, including seven in two legs against Slavia Prague. Then came the remarkable game against Bristol City in the WSL on 1 December where she scored six and set up four. At 10-0 she had played a part in every single goal. It was a complete performance and seven goals for the Netherlands since the summer only highlight how consistent she is. These are incredible numbers for a striker who is not even at her peak yet.
7Rose Lavelle
Age24
TeamWashington Spirit / USA
PositionMidfielder
RankNew
No one has broken into these rankings quite like 2019's highest new entrant. A frustrating run of injuries has kept Lavelle out of the 100 since her breakthrough a few years ago but her contribution to the USA's World Cup campaign has put her straight into the top 10. The ease with which Lavelle travels with the ball is a joy to behold and her deceptive pace and trickery gives even the best defenders little chance of stopping her. Her gliding to the edge of the box, side-stepping her marker and smashing the ball past Sari van Veenendaal in the World Cup final was one of the standout moments of the tournament. But Lavelle's contribution was felt throughout, from her two goals against Thailand to her dazzling display against England in the semi-finals. Her NWSL season was restricted but she still found time to score a goal for Washington Spirit that inflicted a rare defeat on North Carolina Courage.
8Pernille Harder
Age27
TeamWolfsburg / Denmark
PositionForward
Rank1 2018 ▼7
Last year's winner was likely always going to suffer for Denmark missing out on the World Cup and a drop to eighth this year reflects that, but Harder has still had another superb year and is comfortably established as one of the finest attackers in the game. She is already well out in front in the Bundesliga's scoring charts this season with 12 goals to her name by the end of November, only six short of last season's tally. Harder has found the net in 13 out of 20 games this season for club and country, scoring back-to-back hat-tricks in nine days for Wolfsburg and Denmark. Her ability to both create chances and score from them marks her down as one of the best around. There are few better with the ball at their feet and few more deadly in front of goal. The fact she has four hat-tricks already since the summer underlines her formidable current form as she looks to return to a major tournament with Denmark at Euro 2021.
9Wendie Renard
Age29
TeamLyon / France
PositionDefender
Rank8 2018 ▼1
Eighth, ninth, eighth and now ninth again, Renard continues to show remarkable consistency and is once again the highest-ranked centre-back in our top 100. When you captain the top club in Europe (and one of the leading nations) and win as much as Renard does, it is hard to argue against her quality. Her towering stature and aerial ability also make her a goal threat; she scored eight times for Lyon last season and has three already this time around domestically. She led her club to another Champions League title and remarkably has a hat-trick in the competition already this season, against Ryazan in the first round. At the World Cup Renard became France's go-to scorer, finding the net three times in the group stage, again against USA in the quarter-finals, with a bizarre own goal against Norway the only blot on her copybook. Overall, it was another stellar year for one of the best defenders in the world
10Eugénie Le Sommer
Age30
TeamLyon / France
PositionForward
Rank5 2018 ▼5
A slight drop from last year but Le Sommer makes the top 10 for a second year in a row. In a Lyon team full of stars, Le Sommer continues to be one of the most important. Thirteen goals last season and five already by late November this term show she has lost none of her ability whether playing up front or on the left to accommodate her teammate Ada Hegerberg. She added yet another Champions League medal to her haul and would have had dreams of a World Cup medal on home soil, but it was not to be. Still, her contribution was felt as France reached the quarter-finals. She scored their opening goal of the tournament against South Korea and followed that up with a goal against Norway. Le Sommer recently found the net in six consecutive games for club and country and it's no wonder she has become the top scorer in Lyon's history and now sits only five goals behind Marinette Pichon's record of 81 for the national team.
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