How the Guardian ranked the 100 best female footballers in the world 2024

It is time for our seventh edition of the best 100 female footballers in the world and here are the 99 judges who took part in this year’s voting.

Our panel once again includes some of the most respected and influential coaches in the women’s game, including Kansas City Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski, Lyon’s Joe Montemurro and Bayern Munich’s Alexander Strauss.

There are many new judges, such as the Eintracht Frankfurt head coach, Niko Arnautis, the France head coach, Laurent Bonadei, the Ajax head coach, Hesterine de Reus, the Panama head coach, Tona Is, the USA assistant Denise Reddy and the Racing Louisville assistant Carmelina Moscato, among many others.

There are also more former players than ever, including various record holders for their countries such as New Zealand’s Ria Percival, Portugal’s Edite Fernandes and Northern Ireland’s Julie Nelson, as well as the likes of Anouk Dekker, Darian Jenkins, Cheyna Matthews and Leonie Pankratz.

Their votes have been counted to determine the No 1 player of 2024 in a 12-month period which included a thrilling Olympic Games held in Paris.

The countdown begins on Tuesday 3 December with Nos 100-71. Then we will reveal Nos 70-41 before Nos 40-11 and then the top 10 to complete this year’s list.

The judges are listed in alphabetical order by category.

Players

Izzy Christiansen Former England international who won multiple major trophies with Manchester City and Lyon
Anouk Dekker Former Netherlands international, winning Euro 2017 in her home country and named in Team of the Tournament
Becky Edwards Former USA youth international who played for Orlando Pride, Portland Thorns, Kristianstad among others. Now an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee and USA U20s
Edite Fernandes Former Portugal international and Portugal’s top scorer with 32 goals
Alicia Fuentes Molina Former Spain international who represented her nation at Euro 1997 and now a youth team coach at Monterrey
Luna Gevitz Former Denmark international and part of the squad which reached the Euro 2017 final. Played domestically for the likes of Montpellier and Häcken
Darian Jenkins Former USA youth international who played in the NWSL for Orlando Pride, Kansas City Current among others
Cheyna Matthews Former Jamaica international who played for Washington Spirit, Racing Louisville and Chicago Red Stars in the NWSL
Julie Nelson Northern Ireland’s most capped player of all time with 130 appearances across 20 years. Played in England, Iceland and Scotland before spending eight years at Crusaders
Leonie Pankratz Former Germany youth team international who played for Montpellier, Hoffenheim, Levante and Frankfurt
Ana Paola Lopez Yrigoyen Former Mexico international who played for UNAM, Pachuca and Cruz Azul
Ria Percival New Zealand’s most capped player of all time with 166 appearances, played professionally across Germany and England
Jenny Ruiz-Williams Former Mexico international who played for Seattle Reign in the NWSL. Now a college coach in the USA
Sissi Former Brazil international who won the Golden Boot at the 1999 World Cup
Laura Vetterlein Former Germany youth international who played for Wolfsburg and West Ham United. Now an assistant coach at FC Basel in Switzerland
Brianna Visalli Former USA youth international who played in the WSL and NWSL. Now an assistant coach at Stanford University
Amy Walsh Former Canada international who earned 102 caps over 11 years and an inductee into the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame

Coaches and Technical Staff

Fabrice Abriel PSG head coach
Vlatko Andonovski Kansas City Current head coach and formerly USA head coach
Niko Arnautis Eintracht Frankfurt head coach
Natalia Arroyo Former head coach of Real Sociedad in Spain
Natalia Astrain Former Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and USA youth team head coach
Ben Bate Current Auckland United head coach
Leah Blayney Australia assistant coach and Under 20s head coach
Laurent Bonadei France head coach
Shilene Booysen Wadi Degla head coach and formerly an assistant coach for South Africa
Mariana Cabral Former head coach of Sporting Club in Portugal

Lisa Cole USA assistant coach and former Zambia assistant coach
Hesterine de Reus Ajax head coach
Sabrina Eckhoff Wolfsburg assistant head coach
Fabio Fukumoto Paraguay assistant head coach
Ann-Helén Grahm Former Scotland, Finland and Tigres assistant coach
Martin Ho Brann head coach and formerly Manchester United assistant coach
Louis Hunt San Diego Wave assistant coach
Tona Is Panama head coach and formerly Pachuca and Spain U17 head coach. Earned 34 caps for Spain as a player
Jonne Kunnas Linköping head coach and Finland assistant coach
Pedro López Ramos Mexico head coach
Joe Montemurro Current Lyon head coach
Carmelina Moscato Racing Louisville assistant coach and formerly Tigres UANL head coach. Earned 94 caps for Canada as a player
Mark Parsons Former Portland Thorns, Washington Spirit and Netherlands head coach
Signe Pries Andersen Faroe Islands head coach
Denise Reddy USA assistant coach and former Chelsea assistant coach
Cedric Roger Vietnam assistant coach
Marko Saloranta Finland head coach
Guillermo Schiltenwolf Wellington United head coach
Martin Sjögren Hammarby head coach and former Norway head coach
Kat Smith Western United head coach
Alessandro Spugna Roma head coach
Alexander Strauss Bayern Munich head coach
Lene Terp Fortuna Hjørring head coach
Javier Visea Al Ittihad assistant coach
Randy Waldrum Former head coach of Nigeria, leading the team to the 2023 World Cup and Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Abdullah Abdullah Journalist in the UAE for various outlets and an author of several books
Samuel Ahmadu Journalist in Nigeria for NIgeriaFootball and SavidNews
Melanie Anzidei Journalist in the USA for the Athletic
Esther Appiah-Fei Journalist in Ghana for Olympics and various outlets
Romain Balland Journalist in France for various outlets
Annika Becker Journalist in Germany for Sportschau and various outlets
Alex Bishop Journalist in Japan for the Asian Game and various outlets
Micaela Cannataro Journalist in Argentina for Diario Ole and various outlets
Anna Carreau Journalist in France for RMC Sport, Eurosport and various outlets
Javiera Court Arrau Journalist in Chile and women’s football documentary creator
Seraina Degen Journalist in Switzerland for SRF Sport
Sofie Engberg Munch Journalist in Denmark for TV2 Sport
Ryan Fenix Journalist in the Philippines for GMA News Online
Tom Garry Journalist in the UK for the Guardian

Tamerra Griffin Journalist in the USA for the Athletic and various outlets
Alex Ibaceta Journalist in Spain for DAZN and various outlets
Caleb Jephte Pierre Journalist in Haiti for various outlets
Meaghen Johnson Journalist in Canada for TSN
Calvin Kaumba Chikenge Journalist in Zambia for Bola News and Guardian Sport
Mariam Kourabi Journalist in Canada for SheScoresBangers Podcast
Rich Laverty Journalist in the UK for various outlets
Sophie Lawson Journalist in the UK for ESPN
Gianluca Lia Journalist in Malta for Times of Malta
Marissa Lordanic Journalist in Australia for ESPN and various outlets
Joey Lynch Journalist in Australia
David Menayo Journalist in Spain for Marca
Unnati Naidu Journalist in India for DAZN
Blair Newman Women’s football analyst and scout in the UK
Chibuogwu Nnadiegbulam Journalist in Nigeria for AIPS Media and Editor of LadiesMarch
Rivkah op het Veld Journalist in the Netherlands for NOS Sport
Christina Paulos Journalist in Norway for TV 2 Sport
Teo Pellizzeri Journalist in Australia for 10Australia
Alicia Soares Journalist in Brazil for Planeta Futebol and Vavel
Courtney Stith Journalist in the USA for CBS Sports and various outlets
Joanna Tokarska Journalist in Poland for TVP Sport
Assile Toufaily Journalist in France for Forbes Sport
Hanna Urbaniak Journalist in Poland for various outlets
Amber van Lieshout-Boonman Journalist in the Netherlands for Vrouwen Voetbal Nieuws
Amanda Viana Journalist in Brazil for DAZN and various outlets
Raffaella Volpiana Journalist in Brazil for Planeta Football and various outlets
Julia Wanjeri Journalist in Kenya for JWSports1 and various outlets
Lucy Ward Broadcaster in the UK for DAZN, TNT Sports and Prime Video. Former player for Leeds United
Adriana Wehrens Journalist in Germany for 90min
Suzanne Wrack Journalist in the UK for the Guardian
Bi Yuan Journalist in China for Titan Sports and various outlets
Ayishatu Zakaria Ali Journalist in Ghana for 90min and various outlets
Amanda Zaza Journalist in Sweden for SVT