Ranked! The 50 best women's football players of all time

40. Kim Little

At her peak, Little was one of the very best in the world. She was part of an all-conquering Arsenal side before heading to the USA where she quickly became a household name in Seattle. Now back at Arsenal, she continues to dictate play with her superior control and passing. 

Whether it’s setting up others or scoring a hatful herself, Little has excelled throughout her career on both sides of the Atlantic and has 40 goals for Scotland.

39. Melanie Behringer

At her best, Melanie Behringer was one of the most joyous players of the modern era to watch live. 

How she could both control and read games contributed to a decade that saw her win two European Championships, a World Cup and an Olympic gold medal. 

But that’s not all. She also won the Golden Boot and was a FIFA World Player of the Year nominee for her performances.

38. Dzsenifer Marozsán

Marozsán has a more glorified trophy cabinet than many on this list that have already retired. 

There are few better on the ball than the German and her individual honours, including being named UEFA Player of the Year three times in a row between 2015 and 2017 proves that. She has won four league titles, five Champions Leagues, an Olympic gold and a European Championship in 2013.

37. Hanna Ljungberg

Hanna Ljungberg was, is, and always will be one of Sweden’s greatest. 

When she retired, she was Sweden’s top scorer with 72 goals and after dragging her country to a surprise World Cup final in 2003, was a finalist for the FIFA World Player of the Year award. For Umeå IK, she scored a scarcely believable 196 goals in 277 appearances.

36. Renate Lingor

Another hugely decorated player and another key component of a Germany side that dominated world football for a period. 

Lingor won three European Cups and seven Bundesliga titles domestically during the 2000s, when FFC Frankfurt were at the top of German football and Lingor was a huge part of that. 

Her success on the international stage wasn’t bad either, as the midfielder walked away from her Germany career with two World Cups and three European Championships, as well as three Olympic bronze medals. 

Her performances at the 2007 World Cup earned Lingor a spot on the all-star team. There are few in German football with a bigger list of honours than this midfielder.

35. Briana Scurry

Though Hope Solo eventually replaced Briana Scurry in goal for the USA, Scurry still had an incredible run between the posts for her national team. Keeping 71 clean sheets, she won Olympic gold medals in both 1996 and 2004 and saved a crucial penalty to help the USWNT win the 1999 World Cup.

Plus, Solo went onto become one of the greatest-ever goalkeepers, so it's not stain on Scurry's record that she was eventually ousted. 

34. Bente Nordby

With 172 caps, Nordby comes up just behind Scurry in appearances, but her contribution of only conceding one goal as Norway won the 1995 World Cup, preceded by a European Championship and followed by an Olympic gold stands her out as one of the best. 

She was a FIFA World Player of the Year nominee four times too. One of only a few players who can say they have won the European Championships, World Cup and an Olympic gold, Nordby was for a long time considered one of the best goalkeepers of her time and her legacy certainly puts her down as one of the greatest of all time when looking back at what she achieved.

33. Inka Grings

With 195 goals, Inka Grings is the top scorer in the history of the Bundesliga, won the league’s Golden Boot six seasons in a row, and was named Germany’s Player of the Year three times. Though her 64 strikes in 96 appearances at international level could be better, Grings will certainly go down as one of the best German goalscorers.

It’s hardly surprising her domestic form contributed to an era of German dominance on the international scene, where she won back-to-back European Championships in 2005 and 2009, as well as a European Cup in the same year as the latter. Grings also won the Golden Boot in both tournaments.

32. Carla Overbeck

Carla Overbeck won 168 caps for a USA team that at times during the 1990s dominated the landscape of women’s football. After winning the World Cup in China in 1991, in which Overbeck was a mainstay in the US defence, she went on to play every single minute of the 1995 World Cup, 1996 Olympics and the 1999 World Cup, one of only two players to do so. 

Throughout her time with her nation, Overbeck was an ever-dependable presence at heart of a hugely successful decade for the world's most-decorated women's national team. On top of the aforementioned honours, she also managed to add another World Cup and an Olympic gold medal in the latter part of her career. 

31. Sandra Minnert

Sandra Minnert’s contribution to German football may best be described by the fact she was awarded the ‘Silbernes Lorbeerblatt’ – the highest sports award in Germany – six times between 1995 and 2007. 

Minnert won four European Championships, two World Cups, five Bundesliga titles and a WUSA in America with Washington in 2003. 

An all-star team member at the 2003 World Cup, which Germany won, Minnert was a constant and important presence at the heart of a successful and dominant Germany side in the early to mid-2000s. She also got her hands on a European Cup and two Olympic bronze medals during a hugely trophy-laden career.