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BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2024 nominees announced

October 15, 2024

BBC World Service has announced the shortlist for the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2024 award.

Now celebrating its tenth year, BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year award sees an expert panel made up of current and former professionals, coaches and journalists nominate their top five players over the past year.

The footballers shortlisted for the award this year are:

Barbra Banda – Zambia & Orlando Pride

Aitana Bonmati – Spain & Barcelona

Naomi Girma – USA & San Diego Wave

Caroline Graham Hansen – Norway and Barcelona

Sophia Smith – USA & Portland Thorns

Previous winners of the award include England goalkeeper Mary Earps, England striker Beth Mead, Netherlands forward Vivianne Miedema, English defender Lucy Bronze, Norwegian forward Ada Hegerberg, Scotland midfielder Kim Little and Nigerian striker Asisat Oshoala.

Voting is free and open to the public. The vote will close at 0900 GMT on October 28th, with the winner crowned on November 26th.

Jon Zilkha, Controller of BBC World Service English, says: “In the ten years since BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year was first awarded, there has been incredible growth in women’s football making it one of the biggest and most exciting games on the planet. I am proud that the BBC is once again celebrating these players’ achievements. All five of our nominees have excelled this year, and I’m excited to see who our audience pick as the winner.”

Since the inception of BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year in 2015, we have witnessed a decade of astounding growth for women’s football. Our nominees over the past ten years have played a pivotal role in propelling the women’s game into the mainstream.

In the lead up to voting, the BBC World Service spoke to the sportswomen nominated for this year’s award.

On playing for her country, Zambian forward Barbra Banda commented: “I would say thanks because putting on my Zambian shirt, it’s very important for me. When we qualified for the Olympics [for the second time] that was so exciting, and I managed to score another hat-trick. It was a great moment for me.”

On how her family perceive her footballing success, Barbra says: “Way back I think African parents were against women playing soccer, so it was very difficult for my mum to accept that, but definitely I came to overcome it.  She’s now on the Barbra bandwagon!”

Reflecting on her development as a player, Spanish midfielder Aitana Bonmati said: “I am lucky to be part of these great teams – Barça and the Spanish team. Because I’m playing with a lot of great players, that makes you the best player. This helps a lot. I develop more skills or more things about my type of play.”

On her team’s success, Aitana says: “At Barcelona, in the past, we had the talent, the skills, but maybe we didn’t have the physique, the mentality, the winning mentality. Putting these three things together, we became a winning team.”

Reflecting on her highlights from the year, USA defender Naomi Girma said: It has to be the Olympic gold this summer. It was such a special tournament. It was a special group of players and to come in off a coaching transition and to play the way we did and to end up on top was really amazing.

Speaking about her family, Naomi says: “My parents were both born in Ethiopia and they came to the US in their early twenties. My dad came as a refugee. He started a grassroots soccer club called Maleda Soccer in San Jose. It was just for the Ethiopian kids to get together, play soccer and that was when I first started playing. I think for me, it’s really important to be clear where I’m from and to be that example.”

Reflecting on the USA’s triumph at the Paris 2024 Olympics, American striker Sophia Smith told the BBC: “Winning a gold medal was a dream come true. I remember feeling like we’re going to win, I don’t know how, I don’t know who’s going to put the ball in the back of the net, but we’re going to win this game, and you could just feel that collective belief amongst the whole team.”

On representation on the pitch, Sophia says: “When I was growing up there were very few black players on the US national team and it’s so important because for every young boy, every young girl, to see players who look like them, doing what they maybe want to do or just doing something special in general, I think just goes a long way and it’s important for young athletes to see that, to know that they can be exactly that too.”

Commenting on her past year on the pitch, Norwegian forward Caroline Graham Hansen says: “It’s been a fun year. The highlight must be the Champions League for sure. Bilbao was a surreal experience. Not only did we win the Champions League, but we were able to do it in front of our own fans, even though it was not in Barcelona. Everybody took the trip to Bilbao. They were singing all game and then you get to lift the trophy in front of them. It was just too good to be true.”

On the importance of empowering younger generations, Caroline says: “There are so many girls now out there that want to become a footballer, that want to pursue their dreams. The visibility gives us the possibility to be role models for the next generation and give them hopes and dreams of doing the same. They will have it ten times, if not 100 times better than we had it and this is the goal.”

The winner of the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2024 will be revealed on the BBC World Service’s flagship news programme, Newsday, on November 26th.

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