FIFA World Cup Records and Statistics: FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year – Wins by Country

The FIFA World Player of the Year was a union football award presented yearly by  FIFA at the FIFA World Player Gala. Trainers and captains of international teams, as well as media representatives, choose the player they believe performed best in the preceding calendar season. Till today the prize has been awarded to a total of eight female footballers. This article talks in detail about the awards won by a country for the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year. 

The FIFA World Player of the Year was a football association award granted yearly at the FIFA World Player Gala, by FIFA between 1991 and 2015. From 2001 to 2009, parallel prizes for men and women were given instead of a single award for the world’s greatest men’s player. In 2010, the men’s award was consolidated with the FIFA Ballon d’Or, although the women’s award was preserved until 2015. Men’s and women’s awards had been merged into a single award for ‘The Best FIFA Football Awards’ in the year 2015.

The winners are selected by the national team trainers and captains, as well as international media representatives invited by FIFA.   In a positional voting approach, each voter is given three votes worth five points, three points, and one point, and the three finalists are ranked by total points awarded.

Retired US Women’s National Team attacker Mia Hamm was the first holder of the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year award. Marta, a Brazilian women’s football icon, has received the award six times in her career. She is followed by Birgit Prinz of Germany, who has won the prize three times. Nadine Angerer, who was 35 when she won in 2013, is the senior most winner; she is also the sole goalkeeper of any gender to claim a victory. The prize has been awarded to eight female footballers: three Germans, three Americans, one Brazilian, and one Japanese.

Wins by Country 

Country	Players	Total
Germany	3	5
Brazil	1	5
United States	3	4
Japan	1	1

Germany 

Germany’s women’s national football team has appeared in the FIFA Women’s World Cup a total of eight times, in the years 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019. The team has also won the championship twice and came in second position once. The German national team won the World Cup for the very first time in the year 2003. Germany became the first country to earn world championships in both men’s and women’s football.  They got the fourth position in the year 1991 and then again in 2015.

Brazil

Brazil’s women’s national football team has reflected the country at the FIFA Women’s World Cup on eight occasions, in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019.  They once stood as runner-up and also finished third once.

United States of America 

The United States women ‘s national football team has been the most prolific women’s national team in Women’s World Cup history, having won four astonishing titles, coming second once, and third three times. Aside from Germany, Japan, and Norway, the United States is the only country to have won a FIFA Women’s World Cup (China in 1991, the United States in 1999, Canada in 2015, and France in 2019). The United States is also the sole team to have played every tournament’s maximum number of matches.

Japan 

The Japanese women’s football national team is among the most successful in the Asian Football Confederation. Its highest FIFA Women’s Global Rankings position is third, which it earned in December 2011. Nadeshiko Japan beat the United States in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, earning their first FIFA Women’s World Cup championship while becoming the fourth women’s world champion. It also won silver medals in the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, marking it as the first Asian team with three international championship titles.

“Get more sports news, cricket news, and football updates, log on to sportsdigest.in. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter and Subscribe to our YouTube Channel.”