1 Melchie Dumornay (OL Lyonnes/Haiti) Yes, Dumornay was part of a team that lost 4-0 to Barcelona in last season’s Champions League final, but her influence in the OL Lyonnes midfield as they cruised to a domestic treble stepped up a gear. The technically brilliant 23-year-old midfielder was named player of the year by the French players’ union, and her importance to Lyonnes was most clearly demonstrated by her absence through injury for their 2-1 loss to Arsenal in their Champions League semi-final first leg. She returned for the second leg and produced a player-of-the-match performance in a 3-1 win.
Dumornay scored five goals in Lyonnes’ Champions League run and was named in the team of the tournament. 2 Ewa Pajor (Barcelona/Poland) After losing five Champions League finals, Pajor shook off her ‘always the bridesmaid, never the bride’ mantle in style with two goals as Barcelona thrashed Lyonnes in Oslo. The 29-year-old’s 11 goals in European competition last season matched Alexia Putella’s 2021-22 tally, which has not been bettered since Ada Hegerberg’s record-breaking 15 in 2017-18. Pajor also scored 16 goals in Liga F, behind only her Barcelona teammate Claudia Pina who scored 21. 3 Khadija Shaw (Manchester City/Jamaica) Shaw is the only player to win three Women’s Super League golden boots and she won them consecutively.
The 29-year-old was back to her unplayable best last season, scoring 21 goals in 22 games as Manchester City swept to a league and FA Cup double and, much to the club’s relief, signing a new contract. It is not just Shaw’s numbers that are impressive; her hold-up play, defensive work and vision are also deeply impressive. All that helped her to the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and Football Writers’ Association (FWA) player of the year awards.
She scored nine goals and was named in the Best XI in this year’s Concacaf Women’s Championship qualification, helping Jamaica make the tournament proper. 4 Alexia Putellas (London City Lionesses/Spain) Putellas was in stunning form in her final season at Barcelona before she moved to London City Lionesses in July. Having sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2022 that ruled her out of that summer’s Euros, the two-time Ballon d’Or winner’s return to action, and best form, took some time. She scored seven goals in the Champions League last season and nine goals and seven assists in Liga F, as Barcelona won a stunning quadruple.
The 32-year-old also scored the second and third goals in a 4-0 defeat of England to secure Spain’s World Cup qualification at their opponent’s expense. 5 Yui Hasegawa (Manchester City/Japan) Hasegawa makes a third appearance on the Ballon d’Or longlist having missed out last year. The 29-year-old was a critical component in City’s double, the conductor of Andrée Jeglertz’s midfield. She was named in the PFA team of the year and also helped Japan to a third AFC Women’s Asian Cup win, eight years after their last, earning World Cup qualification in the process. 6 Alessia Russo (Arsenal/England) It was a disappointing season for Arsenal, with only the Fifa Champions Cup trophy secured, but Russo stepped up a level for club as well as country.
Switching between the No 9 and No 10 roles, it was the 27-year-old’s all-round game that impressed the most and not surprisingly was named in the PFA team of the year. Her goal against Iceland in England’s World Cup qualifying campaign in April moved her into Lionesses’ top-10 goalscorers. 7 Temwa Chawinga (Kansas City Current/Malawi) The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) top scorer and most valuable player for a second season running, Chawinga scored 15 goals as Kansas City Current finished top in the regular season, winning the NWSL Shield. The 28-year-old also scored five goals to take Malawi – who had never previously qualified – to the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations final, making her the joint-highest goalscorer, and helping her country reach their first World Cup. 8 Claudia Pina (Barcelona/Spain) It was a quiet Champions League season for Pina, with the 25-year-old scoring two goals, neither in the knockouts.
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