Between 2001 and 2015, FIFA Women’s World Player of the year was awarded every year to women player by football governing body FIFA. In year 2016, FIFA replaced this award with The Best FIFA Women’s Player. The selection criteria involved choosing of women football player with best performance and a good conduct. These players were chosen by:
- Coaches and captains of national teams.
- International media representatives
The positional voting system was also used, and players were allotted points accordingly. Based on these points, finalists were ranked from 1st to 3rd every year. The youngest women player to earn this honour is Marta Vieira da Silva, a Brazilian who won at age 20 in year 2006. She bagged the award successively for next four years also. The oldest recipient of this award is Nadine Angerer, who won in 2013 when she was 35. The other women players who achieved this FIFA accorded award belonged to Germany, America, Brazil and Japan. Birgit Prinz, a German football player secured the first rank back-to-back from 2003 to 2005. Mia Hamm, an American player has bagged the award twice.
Here is the list of players who won the FIFA Women’s World Player of the year from year 2001 to 2015:
| Rank | Name of Player | Points | Name of Team |
| 2001 | |||
| I | Mia Hamm | 154 | Washington Freedom |
| II | Sun Wen | 79 | Atlanta Beat |
| III | Tiffeny Milbrett | 47 | New York Power |
| 2002 | |||
| I | Mia Hamm | 161 | Washington Freedom |
| II | Birgit Prinz | 96 | FFC Frankfurt |
| Carolina Courage | |||
| III | Sun Wen | 58 | Atlanta Beat |
| Shanghai SVA | |||
| 2003 | |||
| I | Birgit Prinz | 268 | FFC Frankfurt |
| Carolina Courage | |||
| II | Mia Hamm | 133 | Washington Freedom |
| III | Hanna Ljungberg | 84 | Umeå IK |
| 2004 | |||
| I | Birgit Prinz | 376 | 1. FFC Frankfurt |
| II | Mia Hamm | 286 | Washington Freedom |
| III | Marta | 281 | Santa Cruz Umeå IK |
| 2005 | |||
| I | Birgit Prinz | 513 | FFC Frankfurt |
| II | Marta | 429 | Umeå IK |
| III | Shannon Boxx | 235 | Ajax America Women |
| 2006 | |||
| I | Marta | 475 | Umeå IK |
| II | Kristine Lilly | 388 | KIF Örebro DFF |
| III | Renate Lingor | 305 | 1. FFC Frankfurt |
| 2007 | |||
| I | Marta | 988 | Umeå IK |
| II | Birgit Prinz | 507 | FFC Frankfurt |
| III | Cristiane | 150 | VfL Wolfsburg |
| 2008 | |||
| I | Marta | 1002 | Umeå IK |
| II | Birgit Prinz | 328 | FFC Frankfurt |
| III | Cristiane | 275 | VfL Wolfsburg |
| 2009 | |||
| I | Marta | 833 | Umeå IK |
| II | Birgit Prinz | 290 | FFC Frankfurt |
| III | Kelly Smith | 252 | Boston Breakers |
| 2010 | |||
| I | Marta | 38.20% | FC Gold Pride |
| II | Birgit Prinz | 15.18% | 1. FFC Frankfurt |
| III | Fatmire Bajramaj | 9.96% | 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam |
| 2011 | |||
| I | Homare Sawa | 28.51% | INAC Kobe Leonessa |
| II | Marta | 17.28% | Western New York Flash |
| III | Abby Wambach | 13.26% | magicJack |
| 2012 | |||
| I | Abby Wambach | 20.67% | Unattached |
| II | Marta | 13.50% | Tyresö FF |
| III | Alex Morgan | 10.87% | Seattle Sounders |
| 2013 | |||
| I | Nadine Angerer | 18.85% | Brisbane Roar |
| II | Abby Wambach | 15.02% | Western New York Flash |
| III | Marta | 14.02% | Tyresö FF |
| 2014 | |||
| I | Nadine Angerer | 17.52% | VfL Wolfsburg |
| II | Marta | 14.16% | FC Rosengård |
| III | Abby Wambach | 13.33% | Western New York Flash |
| 2015 | |||
| I | Carli Lloyd | 35.28% | Houston Dash |
| II | Célia Šašić | 12.60% | 1. FFC Frankfurt |
| III | Aya Miyama | 9.88% | Okayama Yunogo Belle |
The decision of awarding is based on choices of national coaches and captains around the world. This accounts for 50 percent of the choosing process. The other 50 percent is about voting and decision from Media representatives, selected by FIFA. In short, players, coaches, captains, public, media representatives all take part in result. FIFA Women’s World Player of the year is synonymous with a women player’s position on the pitch and sporting brilliance.
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