The 50 best women's football players who have ever lived: from Marta to Minnert, Wambach to Wiegmann and everyone in between
10. Joy Fawcett
USA defender Joy Fawcett (Image credit: Getty Images)
One of the greatest defenders in the women's game, Fawcett retired as the USA's top defensive scorer, having managed to find the back of the net on 27 occasions in her incredible 241 caps.
Obviously, goals aren't what Fawcett's career is judged on, however. Instead, it's her innate ability at the heart of several successful teams that has helped her stand out, with a stellar international career spanning 17 years in the world's best team highlighting just how important she was.
After winning the 1991 World Cup, Fawcett played every single minute of the 1995, 1999 and 2003 World Cups, as well as the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. She won a further World Cup in 1999 and an Olympic gold medal three years previous.
9. Christine Sinclair
Christine Sinclair of Canada (Image credit: Getty Images)
Incredibly, Sinclair is still going strong into her 40s, with her hunger still clear to see for any Canadian fans around. Despite her lack of team achievements, Sinclair's individual success and legacy as the top scorer in the history of international football means it's impossible to put the striker any lower on this list.
Sinclair has so often been the talisman for Canada, an icon and legend for her country and the face of the sport in the north, helping to drive the national team to a place where it could go out and get its first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2021, and finally get Sinclair a well-deserved major honour with her country.
With 190 goals for her country already a phenomenal achievement, it's perhaps even more ridiculous that she somehow pulled on the shirt 331 times before retiring at the end of 2023. That goals record may never be beaten, and she still managed to find time for a few domestic triumphs, too, particularly in the NWSL with Portland Thorns.
8. Abby Wambach
Abby Wambach of the USA (Image credit: Getty Images)
Heralded as a great goalscorer, it's arguably Wambach's effective style of play that ensured she would endure such a long and distinguished career at the top of the game. While Christine Sinclair (somehow) managed to beat her 184 goals over 14 for the United States, Wambach enjoyed international success that the Canadian could only dream of.
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Wambach was never the most technically gifted, but her physical presence and aerial ability made her one of the most dangerous forwards in the world. Wambach was at the peak of her powers at the start of the 2010s, named FIFA Player of the Year in 2012 and was a finalist a year either side during a period of leading the world game when it came to being the ultimate centre forward.
Being named in TIME magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2015 topped off an incredible year for Wambach, as she had already picked up her coveted World Cup medal earlier that year.
7. Heidi Mohr
Heidi Mohr of Germany (Image credit: Getty Images)
Though Mohr's profile cannot match some of the other more established names on this list, her influence and effectiveness on the pitch certainly cannot be underestimated.
Indeed, being voted Europe's Player of the Century in 1999 is, quite frankly, a phenomenal achievement, and if that doesn’t tell you what Mohr was like as a forward, nothing will. Between 1991 and 1995, Mohr won the Bundesliga Golden Boot in all five seasons, and with her country she didn't let up either; she top-scored at the 1991 Euros, and came second in the 1991 World Cup, too.
Three European Championships with Germany also helps her status, too - without her, the nation might not have enjoyed as much success as it did.
Sadly, Mohr passed away in 2019, but her legend as one of the greatest the game has seen will live on forever, and her goal-scoring record in Germany for club and country is something that will rarely be beaten.
6. Kristine Lilly
Kristine Lilly of the United States (Image credit: Getty Images)
Three hundred and fifty four. That's how many international caps Lilly earned during her career. 354. An incredible feat, Lilly's record may simply never be broken, especially with Christine Sinclair having announced her retirement from international football.
One of the most dominant midfielders of a generation, Lilly’s forward ability also made her a proven goalscorer, finding the net 130 times for the USA across a 23-year career.
It's her longevity that's most impressive, however. Lilly won everything in sight, more often than not on multiple occasions, and also regularly picked up plenty of individual awards along the way which inevitably helped contribute to her team's success.
When you think of the USA women’s team and the star players over the years, Lilly will be one of the first names to spring to mind due to the longevity of her performances and how she remained a top player until the end, an incredible two and a bit decades after making her debut.
5. Sun Wen
Sun Wen of China (Image credit: Getty Images)
Undoubtedly Asia's greatest women's football player of all time, it'll take someone truly special to dethrone the Chinese superstar. Sharing FIFA's Player of the Century award in 1999 highlights her brilliance, with the peak of her powers coming in that year's World Cup.
Winning both the Golden Ball and Golden Boot, Wen came within whiskers of winning the entire tournament, with China losing in dramatic fashion on penalties. Still, that didn't deter Sun Wen, as she helped her nation to an Olympic silver and four consecutive Asian Cup triumphs, ending her career with 106 goals in 163 caps for China.
A successful period in the USA with Atlanta Beat also cemented her status as one of the best, but as well as being the ultimate goalscorer, she could also find the time to create opportunities for her team-mates, too. With a superb passing range and such skilful ability, Wen was one of the most complete all-round forwards the game has seen.
4. Michelle Akers
Michelle Akers of the USA (Image credit: Getty Images)
Michelle Akers holds a record that still hasn’t been broken to this day, decades later. Her ten goals at the 1991 World Cup is an individual record that has stood the test of time, and at the time helped her country win the first women’s World Cup.
That, though, doesn’t do justice to what Akers achieved over her career and the talent she held. Akers was named FIFA Female Player of the Century in 2002, that in itself quite an honour, shared with China’s Sun Wen.
An integral member of the USA squad, Akers ended her international career with 105 goals in 156 caps, with a staggering amount of them - 39 - coming in just one calendar year in 1991, coinciding with her double-figure tally in China.
So talented was Akers, that she eventually moved into a midfield role to dictate games on an increasing basis. She didn't relinquish any control or influence on the game in doing so, however, with her ability apparent wherever she stood on the pitch. Unfortunately, a series of knee issues eventually took their toll, but Akers still performed and succeeded at the top level, playing in a position that wasn’t naturally hers.
Akers managed to stay around long enough to win a second World Cup, before retiring in 2000 as her nation’s second top scorer in history.
3. Birgit Prinz
Birgit Prinz of Germany (Image credit: Getty Images)
One of the most clinical and devastating strikers to come up against, Germany legend Birgit Prinz ranks as the highest European player in our list.
If her 128 goals in 214 caps for her national team don’t tell the story, her record at club level in terms of both goals and medals won is arguably even more impressive.
Prinz won an incredible five European Championships and two World Cups, playing an influential role throughout an era of German dominance, particularly in their own continent. FIFA World Player of the Year three years running, Prinz was runner-up another five times and was named German Player of the Year eight years in a row. Yes, eight.
Only Marta has more World Cup goals and that is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Prinz’s achievements. Prinz won nine Bundesliga titles, seven of them with the all-conquering FFC Frankfurt side, as well as three European Cups, scoring the decisive goal in two of her side’s triumphs.
Prinz even decided to tackle America in 2002 and flourished there too, helping Carolina Courage to the 2002 WUSA Championship, only adding to her ridiculous honours board. Europe may never find another striker who can match the legacy Prinz has left behind.
2. Mia Hamm
United States forward Mia Hamm (Image credit: Getty Images)
Even years after her retirement, Hamm is a player still revered and iconic to the USA national team. Her longevity and success counts for plenty, but it's her individual talent, ability and skill which was truly remarkable.
Hamm ended her career with an incredible 158 goals in 276 games for the USA, a tally that once was the best in the world, and even nearly two decades on still sees her sat in the top three of all time.
With all the talent that has passed through the USA team over the years, to stand out as number one shows how special Hamm was. FIFA World Player of the Year two years running in 2001 and 2002 saw her labelled the best in the world over a period of time.
Finally getting her coveted World Cup medal in 1999 at the third time of asking, Hamm epitomises everything the US is and has been across the decades. There’s no doubt Hamm will forever go down as not only one of the greatest forwards, but one of the greatest players, full stop.
1. Marta
Marta of Brazil (Image credit: Getty Images)
The best to ever do it. In terms of natural, pure ability, the Brazilian is simply streets ahead of anyone else to have ever played in the game. Though she might not have enjoyed the same international team success as her American or German counterparts, her individual brilliance helps her stand out from the rest.
If you haven’t been lucky enough to witness the Brazilian icon with your own eyes, her stats alone will tell a daunting tale. Brazil’s top scorer with 115 goals, the top scorer in World Cup history with 17 goals and the first to score at five consecutive World Cups, Marta has been named the FIFA World Player of the Year an impressive six times, with five of them coming in consecutive years.
She may never have picked up a World Cup itself or an Olympic gold, but her individual honours stretch and stretch beyond imagination, while at club level the forward won four consecutive titles with former European giants Umeå IK, as well as a European Cup.
Her performance when Brazil demolished the USA 4-0 in the 2007 World Cup semi-final will forever be remembered, and she is viewed back home as a legend, an honour that has over time spread around the world.
To stand out from the pack is no easy feat and it’s hard to believe there will ever be another quite as special as Marta.
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Rich Laverty has been a women’s football writer for a decade now, covering the game across the FA WSL, several FA Cup finals and live from the 2017 European Championships and 2019 World Cup. He has written regularly for publications in the UK and USA, including The Times, Guardian, Independent, iSport, FourFourTwo, Bleacher Report, The Blizzard, These Football Times and Our Game Magazine.
