The Best FIFA Women's Player is a football award presented annually by the sport's governing body,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, since 2016, to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous calendar year. From 2001 to 2015, the award was known as the FIFA Women's World Player of the Year.

History

The selection criteria for the players of the year are: sporting performance, as well as general conduct on and off the pitch. The votes are decided by media representatives, national team coaches, and national team captains. In October 2016, it was announced that the general public would also be allowed to vote. Each group has 25% of the overall vote. At the 2017 awards,

2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournam ...

Bronze Ball and Bronze Shoe winner and amateur club player

Deyna Castellanos Deyna Cristina Castellanos Naujenis (born 18 April 1999) is a Venezuelan professional footballer who plays as a forward for Women's Super League club Manchester City and the Venezuela women's national team. Early life Deyna Cristina Castel ...

was nominated. Professional players

Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a winger and captains OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), as well as the United States national team. Winner of the Ballon d ...

and

Sam Kerr Samantha May Kerr (born 10 September 1993) is an Australian professional football player who plays as a forward for Chelsea in the FA Women's Super League and the Australia women's national team (the ''Matildas''), which she has captained si ...

criticized the nomination.Megan Rapinoe says FIFA doesn't care about women's soccer
– ESPN, 23 October 2017

Winners

{, class="wikitable" !Year !Rank !Player !Team(s) !Votes , - , rowspan="3",

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, scope=col style="background-color: gold" , 1st ,

Carli Lloyd Carli Anne Hollins (; born July 16, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2008 and 2012), two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion (2015 and 2019), two-time FIFA Player of the Year ...

Houston Dash The Houston Dash is a professional women's soccer team based in Houston, Texas. It joined the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the 2014 season, and is affiliated with the MLS team Houston Dynamo FC. History Establishment On November ...

, 20.68% , - , scope=col style="background-color: silver" , 2nd ,

Marta Marta may refer to: People * Marta (given name), a feminine given name * Märta, a feminine given name * Marta (surname) :István Márta composer * Marta (footballer) (born 1986), Brazilian professional footballer Places * Marta (river), an ...

FC Rosengård FC Rosengård, formerly Malmö FF Dam (1970–2007) and LdB FC Malmö (2007–2013), is a professional football club based in Malmö, Scania, Sweden. The team was established as Malmö FF Dam in 1970. It started out with playing 7 seasons in th ...

, 16.60% , - , scope=col style="background-color: #cc9966" , 3rd ,

Melanie Behringer Melanie Behringer (born 18 November 1985) is a German footballer who played as a midfielder for Bayern Munich. She was a Best FIFA Women's Player finalist. Club career Behringer started her career at SpVgg Utzenfeld and FC Hausen. In 2003, she ...

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, 12.34% , - ! colspan="4" , ! , - , rowspan="3",

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, scope=col style="background-color: gold" , 1st ,

Lieke Martens Lieke Elisabeth Petronella Martens (; born 16 December 1992) is a Dutch professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), winger or midfielder for Division 1 Féminine club Paris Saint-Germain Féminine ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, 21.72% , - , scope=col style="background-color: silver" , 2nd ,

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, 16.28% , - , scope=col style="background-color: #cc9966" , 3rd ,

Santa Clarita Blue Heat Santa Clarita Blue Heat is an American women's soccer team, founded in 2008. The club was known as the Ventura County Fusion for its first two years of existence. The team plays its home games at Canyon High School. During the Fusion days, they p ...

, 11.69% , - ! colspan="4" , ! , - , rowspan="3",

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, scope=col style="background-color: gold" , 1st ,

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride is a professional women's soccer team based in Orlando, Florida. The team joined the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US, for the 2016 season. It became the tenth team to be added to the l ...

, 14.73% , - , scope=col style="background-color: silver" , 2nd ,

Dzsenifer Marozsán Dzsenifer Marozsán (; born 18 April 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for French club Olympique Lyonnais, as well as the Germany national team. She previously played for 1. FC Saarbrücken and 1. FFC Frankfurt in t ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, 12.86% , - , scope=col style="background-color: #cc9966" , 3rd ,

Ada Hegerberg Ada Martine Stolsmo Hegerberg (born 10 July 1995) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a striker for the Division 1 Féminine club Lyon and the Norway national team. Hegerberg has represented Norway at the youth international l ...

, 12.60% , - ! colspan="4" , ! , - , rowspan="3",

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, scope=col style="background-color: gold" , 1st ,

Reign FC OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

, 46 , - , scope=col style="background-color: silver" , 2nd ,

Alex Morgan Alexandra Morgan Carrasco (born Alexandra Patricia Morgan; July 2, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker and captains for San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest division of ...

, {{ubl, {{fbaicon, USA

, 42 , - , scope=col style="background-color: #cc9966" , 3rd , {{flagicon, ENG

Lucy Bronze Lucia Roberta Tough Bronze (born 28 October 1991), known as Lucy Bronze, is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Barcelona and the England national team. She has previously played for Sunderland, Everton, Liverpool, Lyon a ...

, {{fbaicon, FRA

, 29 , - ! colspan="4" , ! , - , rowspan="3",

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, scope=col style="background-color: gold" , 1st , {{flagicon, ENG

{{cite web , title=The Best FIFA Football Awards 2020 , url=https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/ced3c4c4c840aa8c/original/icxfikxtnmxh7eqoejv6-pdf.pdf , publisher=FIFA , access-date=17 December 2020 , {{fbaicon, ENG

{{refn, group=note, Bronze was signed by Manchester City from Lyon midway through 2020. , 52 , - , scope=col style="background-color: silver" , 2nd , {{flagicon, DEN Pernille Harder , {{ubl, {{fbaicon, ENG

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, 40 , - , scope=col style="background-color: #cc9966" , 3rd , {{flagicon, FRA

Wendie Renard Wendie Thérèse Renard (born 20 July 1990) is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back and captains both Division 1 Féminine club Lyon and the France national team. Renard is one of the most decorated players in modern wome ...

, {{fbaicon, FRA

, 35 , - ! colspan="4" , ! , - , rowspan="3",

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

{{cite web , title=The Best FIFA Football Awards 2021 , url=https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/37d25dee8dcf3aab/original/The-Best-FIFA-Football-Awards-2021-Result-Breakdown.pdf , publisher=FIFA , access-date=21 January 2022 , scope=col style="background-color: gold" , 1st , {{flagicon, ESP

Alexia Putellas Alexia Putellas Segura (Catalan: Alèxia Putellas i Segura, ; born 4 February 1994) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Barcelona, which she captains, and the Spain national team. She previously played for Espan ...

, {{fbaicon, ESP

, 52 , - , scope=col style="background-color: silver" , 2nd , {{flagicon, AUS

, {{fbaicon, ENG

, 38 , - , scope=col style="background-color: #cc9966" , 3rd , {{flagicon, ESP

Jennifer Hermoso Jennifer Hermoso Fuentes (born 9 May 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Liga MX Femenil club CF Pachuca and for the Spain women's national team. She is the all-time top scorer for both Barcelona and Spain. Hermoso deve ...

, {{fbaicon, ESP

, 33

Wins by player

{, class="sortable plainrowheaders wikitable" , - ! scope="col" , Player ! scope="col style="background-color: gold" , 1st ! scope="col style="background-color: silver" , 2nd ! scope="col style="background-color: #cc9966" , 3rd , - ! scope="row" , {{flagicon, USA