The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award granted yearly by FIFA at the FIFA World Player Gala between 1991 and 2015. Since 2001, the elite FIFA women’s clubs have been mentioned in the following article. This award is granted yearly to the club judged to be the best in the world, as assessed by votes cast by international team coaches and other members.
The FIFA Women’s Player of the Year Award was introduced in 2001, a decade after the FIFA Men’s Player of the Year Award. From 2001 to 2009, parallel prizes for men and women were handed out rather than a unified prize for the world’s greatest men’s player. In 2010, the men’s award was merged with the FIFA Ballon d’Or, whereas the women’s award was preserved until 2015. After 2015, both men’s and women’s categories were merged into The Best FIFA Football Awards and renamed The Best FIFA Women’s Player.
International team coaches and captains, along with media representatives, nominate the player they consider scored the best in the preceding season. In a positional voting approach, each voter is provided three votes worth five points, three points, and one point, and the three candidates are ranked based on the overall number of points. Since 2004, the voting protocol has been based on a FIFA shortlist of 35, out of which team captains and FIFPro delegates, along with the national team managers, may vote. As you can see, only a handful of athletes have dominated this award, with Marta collecting six times.
The award has been handed to eight female footballers: three of which were Germans, three Americans, one Brazilian, and one Japanese. Angerer, who was at the age of 35 when she won in the year 2013, is the oldest recipient. She is also the sole goalkeeper to have claimed this award for either of the sexes. Marta, who received this award at the mere age of 20, is the youngest recipient. She won the prize five years in a row from 2006 to 2010, and another eight years before winning it for the remarkable sixth time in 2018.
Wins by Club
| Club | Players | Total |
| 1. FFC Frankfurt | 1 | 3 |
| Umeå IK | 1 | 3 |
| Washington Freedom | 1 | 2 |
| Santos | 1 | 1 |
| INAC Kobe Leonessa | 1 | 1 |
| Brisbane Roar | 1 | 1 |
| VfL Wolfsburg | 1 | 1 |
| Houston Dash | 1 | 1 |
FFC Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. is a professional sports club established in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is primarily noted for its football club, which had been formed on March 8, 1899. The club now is playing in the Bundesliga, the first tier of the German football league structure. Its first club presently participates in the German top level, the Frauen-Bundesliga. From 1998 to 2020, the club was recognized as 1. FFC Frankfurt.
Umeå IK
Ume IK is a professional association football team established in Ume, northern Sweden, that presently participates in Damallsvenskan, Sweden’s first category of women’s football. In the early 2000s, they became one of the top football clubs in the world, winning seven Swedish championships, four Swedish Cups, and the UEFA Women’s Champions League twice, in the years 2003 and 2004.
Washington Freedom
The Washington Freedom was a Women’s Professional Soccer club established in the Washington, D.C. region of Germantown, Maryland. Freedom started as a member of the now-dissolved Women’s United Soccer Association in 2001. Since 2004, Freedom has contested its home games at the Maryland SoccerPlex. The club migrated to Boca Raton, Florida, in 2011 and was renamed as magicJack.
Santos
Santos Futebol Clube, also nicknamed Santos or Sereias da Vila, is a Brazilian women’s association football team established in Santos, So Paulo state, Brazil. They have achieved the Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol Feminino once, the Copa do Brasil twice, and the Copa Libertadores Femenina three times.
INAC Kobe Leonessa
INAC Kobe is a Japanese football team based in Kobe that was established in the year 2001. INAC is an abbreviation for International Athletic Club, while Leonessa denotes Lioness in Italian.
Brisbane Roar
Brisbane Roar Football Team is an Australian professional soccer club headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland. The club has won the regional title three times and has the highest unbeaten streak of 36 league matches.
VfL Wolfsburg
VfL Wolfsburg e. V., abbreviated VfL Wolfsburg or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club originated from a multi-sports club for Volkswagen staff in Wolfsburg. It is particularly known for its football program, although it also offers badminton, handball, and gymnastics.
Houston Das
The Houston Dash are a women’s professional soccer team located in Houston, Texas. It joined the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in 2014 and is partnered with the MLS club Houston Dynamo FC.
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