Marta, Carli Lloyd and the 25 best women's football players of the 21st century so far - ranked

Including world champions, Olympic gold medallists and Champions League winners, GOAL counts down the best players in the women's game since 2000...

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  25Caroline Graham Hansen

  Until 2024, one of the biggest mysteries in women's football was why Caroline Graham Hansen had never been nominated for the Ballon d'Or. Despite having to conquer several injury obstacles, the Norwegian had been one of the most dominant and consistent wide players in the game since breaking through as a 15-year-old. Yet, somehow, she remained criminally underrated.

  Graham Hansen's 2023-24 season could not be ignored, though. With 33 goals and 26 assists, the tricky winger helped Barcelona win a first-ever quadruple on the women's side and finally got the individual recognition she deserved, finishing second in the running for the Ballon d'Or, only behind team-mate Aitana Bonmati. "I don’t want to miss congratulating Caroline, who's joining me," Bonmati said as part of her acceptance speech. "Thank you for making me a better player and for our chemistry on the sideline."

  Asked during that remarkable season what had made her level so great, Graham Hansen's response was spot on. "Nothing has changed," she told La Vanguardia. "I think I was playing very well in the other years too, but because people only look at the numbers, they didn't look at it as much. I've scored more goals and people take notice of that."

  The 29-year-old has been world-class for many, many years and her plaudits were long overdue. With 28 major titles to her name, including a trio of Champions League triumphs, Graham Hansen has easily been one of the best players of the 21st century - and, with her career nowhere near done, she'll only rocket up lists like this one over time.

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  24Aya Miyama

  Japan boasted one of the most enjoyable women's teams to watch through the first half of the 2010s, one that won an unlikely Women's World Cup in 2011, reached the final again four years later and clinched an Olympic silver medal at London 2012. Central to their success was Aya Miyama, the tricky playmaker who scored in that first triumph and captained the Nadeshiko through the latter two.

  The three-time Asian Player of the Year would wreak havoc in the pockets of space she so easily found in between the opposition's defence and midfield, her creativity so often making Japan tick, while her deadly set-pieces and eye for goal made her a well-rounded threat that few could stop.

  It is not just her exploits on the international stage that make Miyama worthy of being on this list, though. Sandwiched in between spells with Okayama Yunogo Belle in her homeland, which returned plenty of team and individual accolades, the midfielder also took her extraordinary talents to the U.S. and showcased them to one of the biggest audiences for women's soccer. The highlight of her short stay was certainly the 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season, when her league-leading assist tally helped a star-studded Los Angeles Sol side top the regular season standings, before falling agonisingly short in the Championship game.

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  23Alexandra Popp

  If it wasn't for injuries, Alexandra Popp would rank much higher on this list. Yet, despite those setbacks, the versatile forward has achieved plenty in her career to earn her spot. Third in the Germany women's national team's all-time scoring list, Popp may have missed her country's back-to-back World Cup triumphs and their flurry of European Championship titles, not making her debut at the latter tournament until she turned 31, but she more than played her part in a first Olympic gold medal in 2016. If she hadn't pulled up in the warm-up ahead of the Euro 2022 final against England, many believe Germany would've won that too.

  At club level, Popp first tasted success at Duisburg, winning the Champions League and two domestic cups, but that went into overdrive when she completed a move to Wolfsburg in 2012. Nineteen major honours, including two more European titles, have since followed, with her a stalwart for the German giants as they established themselves as the biggest rival of continental powerhouse Lyon in the 2010s.

  Most of the time, Popp's contributions to all these successes have come as a towering centre-forward, the kind that dominates aerial duels and has all the natural goal-scoring instincts to be a deadly fox in the box. However, her incredible talent is perhaps best illustrated by the variety of different roles she has played in her career. Be it as a No.10, a deep-lying midfielder or even in defence, Popp has so often showcased tactical intelligence, adaptability and a team-first attitude of the very highest level.

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  22Sam Kerr

  The number of records that Sam Kerr has broken in her career to date must be, well, record-breaking. The 31-year-old is the all-time top scorer for Australia, Perth Glory and the Chicago Red Stars, with that status at Chelsea firmly in her sights. Also the record scorer for the top divisions in Australia and the U.S. when she left both, though since overtaken, Kerr is an absolute goal machine who can count five Golden Boots from three different leagues on her mantlepiece.

  Since moving to Chelsea at the start of 2020, she's started to rack up the team triumphs at a rapid rate, too. Kerr had tasted success at previous clubs, but her and Chelsea have proved to be a perfect marriage, with both taking the other to new levels. Through five successive Women's Super League titles, three FA Cup triumphs in a row and back-to-back League Cups, Kerr has so often come up with match-winners - and especially at Wembley, when it so often matters most. "I’ve never been there and not won a trophy," she said last year, explaining why it is her favourite stadium to play at. To date, she's visited on four occasions, scored five goals and won four titles.

  Then there is what Kerr has done for her country. Captain of the Matildas, she was part of Australia's first Asian Cup-winning side back in 2010 and has since helped them become a genuine force in the women's game, guiding them with her goals and leadership to tournament semi-finals on a much more regular basis. As the face of her national team, what she has done for the game at home cannot be overstated.

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  21Vivianne Miedema

  Another current player who is sure to rise up this list before her career is done, Vivianne Miedema is also a serial record-breaker. The greatest goal-scorer in WSL history, despite only coming into the league six years after it was established, the remarkable rate at which she has found the back of the net for every team she's played for is one thing. But it is her ability to create for others that makes her even more special.

  Often describing herself as a '9.5' because of the way she combines the No.9 and No.10 roles with her playing style, Miedema has the vision to spot passes even some of the best midfielders might not, as well as the ability to execute them. When that was combined with head coach Joe Montemurro's exciting philosophy at Arsenal, especially in the title-winning season of 2018-19, it was magical. “I understood she needed to be free," he told The Athletic this year. "When you’ve got a player of that calibre, let her make the decision in the moment.”

  As well as winning titles with Bayern Munich and Arsenal, Miedema has spearheaded a game-changing generation of Dutch players. The Netherlands were by no means a force in the women's game until Euro 2017, when Miedema scored twice in the final to deliver a first major title. Two years later, they backed it up with a run to the Women's World Cup final, at a tournament in which their star striker became the country's all-time top goal-scorer.

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  20Hanna Ljungberg

  The form that Hanna Ljungberg was in in 2003 was so spectacular that it helped fire Sweden to their first, and thus far only, Women's World Cup final. Once there, she stepped up even further, breaking the deadlock before half-time to give her nation a real shot at glory, a dream only crushed in extra-time when Nia Kunzer's golden goal gave Germany their first world title.

  Ljungberg's form that year was well recognised by her peers, earning her a place on the podium in the voting for FIFA's Women's World Player of the Year, then the women's game's most prestigious individual accolade. She had a real case to come out on top too, having finished as top-scorer in the UEFA Women's Cup the same year, helping Umea to win their first title after scoring three of her total 10 in the two-legged final.

  But while 2003 was the highlight of Ljungberg's career, it wasn't some flash in the pan. A seven-time champion at home, and with four domestic cups to her name, the forward's complete career numbers are hard to track down, but the ones available - which include 196 goals in 227 league games for Umea, and 72 in 130 for her country - already paint a vivid picture of her greatness.

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  19Kim Little

  When Kim Little finished running the show for Arsenal in their League Cup triumph over Chelsea last year, Lia Walti, her team-mate in midfield, didn't mince her words. "In my opinion, she should always be in the top three in the world," she said boldly, dubbing the Scotland international "underrated". That might be the case on the outside at times, but those who have played with the Arsenal icon know all about her quality.

  Little first caught the eye at Hibernian, prompting the Gunners, then the European champions, to snap her up at the tender age of 17. After helping the Scottish side to win a treble, she'd immediately repeat the feat in London, setting the tone for a five-year spell that would return 11 major titles.

  Despite the class Little has shown since her return to Arsenal in 2017, and her role in helping Scotland qualify for their first Euros and World Cup on the women's side, her greatest exploits arguably came abroad. In 2014, she opted for a change of scenery when she moved to the U.S. to join the Seattle Reign and she thrived to an incredible degree. In her first season, she won the Golden Boot from midfield, was named NWSL MVP and made the league's Best XI, a line-up she'd return to the following year after helping the Reign win back-to-back Shields. It's no wonder Hope Solo, the legendary United States goalkeeper, described her as "the most talented player I have ever played with".

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  18Pernille Harder

  For nine consecutive seasons now, Pernille Harder has been a national champion. It started in Sweden, when she won the Damallsvenskan at Linkopings, and has continued through four successive Bundesliga triumphs at Wolfsburg, three Women's Super League titles in a row at Chelsea and another Bundesliga trophy at Bayern Munich this past summer. Those might be team achievements, but it says a lot about Harder that she's been part of so many successful teams for so long - and an integral part, with her making huge contributions to each trophy.

  There are so many points of her career worth highlighting. There is the summer of 2017, when Harder helped fire Denmark to the final of the European Championship; there is the season that followed, when her exploits for Champions League finalists Wolfsburg saw her finish a very close second in the hunt for the first Ballon d'Or; and there is the 2019-20 campaign which, were it not for the Covid-19 pandemic, surely would've seen her win that prestigious individual accolade after some otherworldly performances for Chelsea.

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  17Kerstin Garefrekes

  Despite enjoying an international career much shorter than most greats, Kerstin Garefrekes certainly squeezed everything possible out of it. The versatile German called time on that side of the game after just 10 years, when she was still only 31 years old and five years away from total retirement, and yet she bid farewell with two World Cup titles, two European Championship triumphs and two Olympic bronze medals to her name.

  A hard-working forward who would also play in midfield, Garefrekes scored huge goals in huge moments, including the one that defeated the United States in the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup, which Germany would beat Sweden to win.

  That star quality wasn't limited to the international stage, either. After catching the eye at Heike Rheine with a Golden Boot-winning season, she signed for German giants Frankfurt at the age of 25 and went on to enjoy remarkable success, with three Champions League triumphs among her 10 major honours in a 12-year stay that also returned a bucket load of goals.

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  16Anja Mittag

  One of the greatest goal-scorers of the 21st century, for a long time, no one had scored more Champions League goals than Anja Mittag, not until a certain Ada Hegerberg came along. Those efforts helped Mittag to win the competition twice, triumphs which were the highlights of two four-year stints with Turbine Potsdam which returned eight more major titles.

  There was also success in Sweden for Mittag, back when it was one of the game's best leagues and boasted many of the world's top players. She thrice picked up the Damallsvenskan Golden Boot, twice won the division and lifted another two Swedish Cups for good measure.

  And yet, there's more. Winner of three European titles with Germany, Mittag was also part of the team that won the Women's World Cup in 2007. It meant that, in 2016, when she helped Silvia Neid's side win Olympic gold in Rio, the striker became part of an incredibly exclusive club to have picked up winners' medals at all three tournaments.

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  15Aitana Bonmati

  The youngest player on this list, Aitana Bonmati is only 26 years old, and yet she's already nearly won everything she possibly can. Schooled in the Barcelona academy, her technical gifts make her a game-changing midfielder for a club she's won five league titles with, with big goals and mesmerising assists the norm for a player like Bonmati. Match that with an attitude and work-rate that makes her an asset defensively, and she is unquestionably a complete player.

  Those traits have helped Barcelona become the greatest team in Europe today, a side that has been Champions League finalists in five of the last six seasons, and winners in three of the last four. In the last two of those triumphs, Bonmati was named the competition's Player of the Season, with her also picking up the MVP award for the 2021 and 2024 finals.

  That knack for the big stage has been translated to international football, too. After being Spain's best player at Euro 2022, when they only lost in extra-time to eventual champions England, she was at the heart of their World Cup triumph 12 months later, deservedly collecting every individual accolade possible in the aftermath. With so many years ahead of her yet, it's incredible to think about what more the two-time Ballon d'Or winner could achieve.

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  14Alexia Putellas

  The women's Ballon d'Or was only established in 2018, but when Alexia Putellas became the first player to claim it in back-to-back years, it was still a remarkable feat. Using the FIFA Women's World Player of the Year accolade for comparison, given it was previously the most prestigious individual award, only Marta, Birgit Prinz and Mia Hamm won that back-to-back. Those are three of the greatest women's players of all time, if not the three greatest women's players of all time, and here was Putellas, doing things that only they have done.

  Before that spotlight success, which came as a result of Champions League-winning exploits with Barcelona, Putellas was already a remarkable talent. A magically technical footballer, her wicked left foot had helped inspire the Catalans to four league titles and five Spanish Cups before they conquered Europe, making her a well-known star at home and putting her firmly on the radar of the sport's biggest connoisseurs.

  When she helped Barca get over the line in 2021, scoring from the spot as they beat Chelsea in the Champions League final, it catapulted into the limelight she deserved. Now a three-time European champion with her club and a World Cup winner with Spain, Putellas is not just a modern-day great; she will go down in history as one of the best the women's game has ever seen.

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  13Nadine Angerer

  It's extremely rare for goalkeepers to win the top individual accolades, so when Nadine Angerer was named FIFA Women's World Player of the Year in 2013, it said a lot. It was the cherry on the top of a truly marvellous year, one which saw Angerer keep five clean sheets in six games as Germany were crowned European champions. That included the final, in which the shot-stopper was named Player of the Match after a 1-0 triumph over a Norway side that had beaten Germany in the group stage.

  Yet, 2013 was arguably not even the best year of Angerer's wonderful career. That's because there was also 2007, when she enjoyed her international breakthrough. Beforehand, Angerer had been her country's second-choice goalkeeper for almost 10 years, part of the squads that won a World Cup, three European Championship titles and collected two Olympic bronze medals. But that all changed when injury threw her into the No.1 role for Germany's world title defence. How she responded to that challenge was incredible; Angerer didn't concede a single goal in the tournament, even denying Marta from the spot in the final as Germany reigned supreme again.

  Throw in a Champions League triumph, two Bundesliga titles and four German Cups, and we are talking about one of the greatest careers any goalkeeper has ever had.

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  12Hope Solo

  Angerer is the only shot-stopper who comes close to Hope Solo when debating the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the women's game. There have been other icons in the position of course, but in terms of world-class quality and longevity at the top, these two are a class apart. Solo, though, regularly tops the list for most people.

  She was a polarising figure throughout her illustrious career, there's no doubt about that, but there was no split decision on her talent. The reasons why were evident through several major international triumphs, including the 2008 and 2012 Olympic women's football tournaments - with her keeping a clean sheet in the gold medal match of the former - and the 2015 Women's World Cup.

  A two-time winner of the Golden Glove at the latter event, and recipient of the Bronze Ball in 2011, Solo's list of achievements is rounded out with two NWSL Shields for a truly magnificent Seattle Reign team. It is one of the best sides the U.S. top flight has ever seen, with an attractive style of play made easy by the wonderful technicians in the team. That, though, also relates to the goalkeeper position, where Solo's perfectly well-rounded and essentially weakness-free game set a bar that no other player in her role has been able to reach yet.

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  11Wendie Renard

  There are not many footballers more decorated than Wendie Renard. Since debuting for Lyon as a 16-year-old, the towering centre-back has won 16 league titles, 10 French Cups and, most significantly of all, eight Champions League crowns. While OL established themselves as the dominant force in Europe through the 2010s in particular, Renard set about asserting herself as one of the most difficult defenders for any forward to face.

  It's not just her defending which makes her an elite player, though. Despite playing in the back line, Renard has a ridiculously impressive goal-scoring record, owing to both her ruthless penalty-taking and aerial threat. Through 489 games for OL, she's scored 155 goals. There have been some big ones in there too, such as the opener in the 2011 Champions League final and a vital winner over Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals in 2020.

  For France, success has not come quite as easy, yet that's not down to a lack of effort on Renard's front. Whether through more than 150 appearances for her country, or the courage to stand up and speak out when things need to improve, the 34-year-old has always given her all for Les Bleues, and that will only continue through the remainder of her career.

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  10Lotta Schelin

  'No risk, no reward' is an old saying that applies perfectly to the decision Lotta Schelin made in 2008 to join Lyon. Speaking to GOAL previously, she admitted she had no knowledge of the French league or the team itself, other than the fact she had heard people in Sweden talk about the impressive performances they had put in against Umea in Europe before. "For me, it was like, 'Okay, I can still stay in Europe in a good team, and they want to win the Champions League, so why not?' I wanted to go there and try it out," she explained. It certainly worked out.

  Back then, Lyon were on the rise. They'd won back-to-back league titles in France, but there was still a long way to go in their big ambition of being champions of Europe. Bit by bit, though, everyone strived towards that aim and within three years of Schelin's arrival, they would stand at the top of the mountain.

  A lot of factors helped contribute to this success, and Schelin was certainly one of them. A dynamic striker who could score a variety of goals, the Swedish star netted an incredible 225 in as many appearances across eight seasons for OL, making her the club's all-time top-scorer when she departed. That included 41 strikes in 53 Champions League games, helping Lyon to win three European titles. One contribution of hers that should not be overlooked either is the guidance she gave to a young Hegerberg, who would prove to be an incredible successor in the No.9 role.

  Schelin's success wasn't limited to Lyon, though. For Sweden, she was also a talismanic figure, helping them to reach five major tournament semi-finals in nine years. To this day, she remains her country's all-time top goal-scorer.

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  9Christie Pearce

  The fourth-most-capped footballer of all time, Christie Pearce was one of the most important players for the United States through her 18-year international career. A veteran of nine major tournaments, she helped the U.S. win three successive Olympic gold medals and the 2015 Women's World Cup, the latter a fitting end to an illustrious and unprecedentedly long time in her country's colours.

  For the Olympic triumphs of 2008 and 2012, plus that World Cup, Pearce wore the armband, too. To be picked out as the leader of this incredible team is no mean feat, with them having no shortage of strong personalities over the years, and so that she held the position for seven years underlined all of the qualities she brought to the table alongside her composed defending.

  Perhaps most impressive is that Pearce enjoyed remarkable longevity despite some big injury setbacks and two maternity breaks. Each time, she returned stronger than ever, that evidence of the hardened attitude and disciplined work-rate that allowed her to play at the highest level until she was 42 years old.

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  8Carli Lloyd

  There have been a lot of top American players in the women's game, those that enjoy incredibly long careers, rack up unfathomable numbers of caps, play at umpteen major tournaments and win major title after major title. Carli Lloyd was one of those - but the clutch moments she produced throughout a 16-year international career that returned 316 caps are what set her apart from most.

  There was the 2008 Olympics, when Lloyd scored the only goal of the gold medal match to help the U.S. defeat Marta's Brazil to win gold. That such a moment came so early in her national-team career was noteworthy, and it certainly set the tone of what was to come. In 2012, she made the difference as the U.S. defended that Olympic title, scoring both goals in a 2-1 win over Japan in the final. She remains the only player, male or female, to score game-winners in two separate Olympic gold medal matches.

  But the highlight of Lloyd's career was undoubtedly the 2015 Women's World Cup final. Four years on from defeat to Japan in Germany, with Lloyd one of three U.S. players to miss in the final's penalty shootout, she set about making amends, scoring a truly stunning hat-trick, one completed from the halfway line. She remains the only woman to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, and the only player to do so without needing extra-time.

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  7Kelly Smith

  Sometimes, the numbers and statistics of a player's career don't tell the full story of what a talent they were. That is the case for Kelly Smith. Born and raised in England at a time when the women's game lacked professionalism and respect, she managed to wow onlookers while at university in the U.S. and thus earn herself opportunities that many of her compatriots just couldn't enjoy.

  The impact she made across the pond is underlined by praise from Mia Hamm, who described her as a "different class", and the assertion by former USWNT head coach April Heinrichs that she would've easily played for the four-time world champions, if eligible. Yet, even with chances to play in the U.S, there were challenges. Leagues folded regularly, making any sort of stability extremely difficult, plus Smith had some big injuries that she had to battle through.

  Despite all of that, the talented goal-scorer, who was equally dangerous as a creator, always racked up ridiculous numbers in her Stateside stints, won 15 trophies at Arsenal - including the Champions League - and was England's all-time top-scorer when she hung up her boots. In full flow, she was a beautifully devastating forward.

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  6Ada Hegerberg

  Ada Hegerberg once told GOAL that she and Schelin had a "special bond" and that when the Swede was her team-mate, she tried to "soak in" as much as possible from her. In the eight years since Schelin left Lyon, and somewhat passed the torch to Hegerberg to be the No.9 to lead this team forward into future success, it's become increasingly clear that Hegerberg made the most of the time she had with one of the game's icons.

  Now, it's the Norway striker who is Lyon's all-time top-scorer, with her return including the most goals in Champions League history. More importantly, such efforts have helped OL to remain France's top dog, while also allowing them to create a dynasty in the Women's Champions League that is certainly one of the most impressive in the entire history of sport.

  With Hegerberg leading the line, Lyon claimed five-successive continental crowns from 2016 to 2020. When Barcelona threatened to take their place at the top following success in 2021, Hegerberg was prominent in the 2022 final that saw OL reassert their status, beating the Catalans 3-1.

  There are lots of other incredible feats in the career of a player who, at 29 years old, still has a lot of football to come, be it the 2018 Ballon d'Or or her role in Norway's run to the Euro 2013 final. But her record of 60 goals in 61 Champions League games is perhaps the best way to demonstrate Hegerberg's ability to turn up and deliver in the very biggest moments.

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  5Abby Wambach

  Another U.S. icon, Abby Wambach scored so many important goals in a career that she ended it as the all-time top goal-scorer in international football. In terms of clutch players, there are few that can compete with the striker's track record, which was kickstarted by the only goal of the U.S.'s quarter-final win over Norway at the 2003 Women's World Cup. It wasn't a successful tournament for the team, who finished third, but it offered an introduction to an inexperienced prospect in Wambach who was primed to set the international stage alight for the next decade and more.

  In 2004, Wambach further fuelled the hype with four goals at the Olympics, including the winner in extra-time of the gold medal match. Indeed, extra=time would become something of a speciality for her, with more crucial goals beyond the 90 minutes coming in the 2011 Women's World Cup quarter-finals and final, while her record at major tournaments was staggering. Through four World Cups and two Olympic Games, Wambach scored 23 goals in 37 games.

  That record was 22 goals in 30 games prior to the 2015 World Cup, which the striker declared beforehand as her last. No longer a regular starter, Wambach influenced the team in other ways, offering leadership as an experienced substitute to help the U.S. see out win after win as they ended a 16-year wait for another World Cup trophy, delivering a first for their iconic forward at her final attempt.

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  4Homare Sawa

  Homare Sawa's senior career actually began in the early 1990s, and yet her incredible longevity means that she was a no-brainer to make this list. That's because the Japan midfielder aged like a fine wine, her greatest accomplishments coming as she got older, wiser and more experienced.

  One of the biggest foreign stars imported by the various women's professional leagues in the U.S. through the 2000s, Sawa was a dominant presence in the middle of the park, despite certainly not looking like she would be. That allowed her to excel Stateside through spells with the Atlanta Beat and the Washington Freedom, but also for her country.

  In 2011, Sawa captained Japan to an incredible World Cup victory, collecting the Golden Boot and Golden Ball along with her winners' medal after also scoring in the dramatic penalty shootout win over the U.S. in the final. Such a standout year helped her break Marta's win-streak at the FIFA Women's World Player of the Year awards, making her the first Asian player to receive such prestigious individual recognition.

  Sawa's quality helped ensure this wasn't a flash in the pan for Japan, too. A year later, they made the Olympic final and, in 2015, another World Cup final. The U.S. were able to get the better of them on both occasions, but the Nadeshiko's status in the women's game had changed dramatically, and Sawa was one of the key players as they established themselves among the elite.

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  3Christine Sinclair

  For a long time, it looked like Christine Sinclair was going to retire without the major international title success she deserved. After making her international debut in 2000, she would spend the next 23 years changing Canadian women's soccer on and off the pitch, scoring the most goals of any international footballer in history and helping her country achieve things they never had. However, her major triumphs were always reserved for club level, where she excelled as part of a fantastic Portland Thorns side.

  Named captain of the team in the inaugural NWSL season, Sinclair would hold that status for her entire 11-year stint in Portland, guiding the team to three Championship titles, two Shield wins and a Challenge Cup before retiring at the end of the 2024 season.

  Sinclair's story with Canada was more about near misses. The team collected back-to-back Olympic bronze medals in 2008 and 2012, losing devastatingly in extra-time to the U.S. in their first semi-final and then 2-0 to Germany in a tight encounter four years later. But the fairy tale was finally completed in 2021, when Canada beat the U.S. for the first time in 20 years to make the gold medal match in Tokyo, then defeated Sweden on penalties to stand on top of the podium. For Sinclair, whose contributions have impacted women's soccer at home and beyond, it could not have been more deserved.

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  2Birgit Prinz

  The jewel at the heart of Germany's dominant period in women's football in the 2000s was none other than Birgit Prinz, a game-changing and insanely talented forward who was also a serial winner. The three-time FIFA Women's World Player of the Year had already won two European Championship titles and become the youngest player to appear in a World Cup final before the turn of the century, but she'd top all of that before retiring in 2011.

  Between winning three more European titles in 2001, 2005 and 2009, Prinz also captained Germany as they became the first nation to win back-to-back Women's World Cup tournaments, in 2003 and 2007, picking up a Golden Ball, a Golden Boot and a Silver Ball across the two events.

  The one title that eluded her was Olympic gold, with a trio of bronze medals collected in the 2000s, but it's hard to look at that as a blemish on a career that also returned six Bundesliga titles, seven German Cups and three Champions League crowns in the 21st century.

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  1Marta

  While some sports have genuine GOAT debates, women's football is a little different. That's because there are very few people out there who do not consider Marta the greatest player in the history of the game.

  While some players' greatness is characterised by the trophies they have won, Marta's is more about the joy, skill and typical Brazilian flair she has brought to the pitch across a career now into its 24th year. That's not to say there haven't been triumphs; the six-time FIFA Women's World Player of the Year won seven league titles and a Champions League crown in Sweden, two Championships in the U.S. before the NWSL was established and, aged 38, did the Shield and Championship double with the Orlando Pride just this year.

  Even with Brazil, where there has always been a feeling that the women's team has deserved more investment and backing to help them get over the line, there have been incredible moments, those which have led to three Olympic silver medals and a Women's World Cup final.

  Yet, Marta probably won't be remembered for this trophy or that one. She'll be remembered for the way she glided beyond defenders with ease, the goals she scored that no other player could and the unmatched quality she brought to the pitch every time she stepped on it.