Including world champions, Olympic gold medallists and Champions League winners, GOAL counts down the best players in the women's game since 2000…

Despite enjoying some truly iconic moments throughout in the 1990s, women's football has truly exploded into the mainstream throughout the 21st century, with professionalism, record-breaking attendances and the expansion, and creation, of several major competitions all big markers of progress over the last 25 years.

In that time, there have been some incredible teams that have enjoyed significant time in the spotlight. In 2003 and 2007, Germany became the first side to win back-to-back Women's World Cup titles, a feat that the United States matched in 2015 and 2019. From 2016 through to 2021, Lyon won five successive Champions League titles, with a further three coming either side of that incredible purple patch. Unsurprisingly, there are many stars of those teams which feature in GOAL's list of the best female footballers of the 21st century.

Though superstars of the 1990s such as Mia Hamm and Sun Wen did play the latter parts of their careers in the 2000s, and enjoy some great successes, their biggest achievements and best years undoubtedly came in the last century, and thus their names – and those of many of their remarkable peers in that same era – are missing from this list. That said, there is no lack of quality here, despite their absences.

So, without further ado, let's take a look at who made the cut as GOAL counts down the best women's players of the last 25 years…

Getty25Caroline Graham Hansen

Until 2024, one of the biggest mysteries in women's football was why Caroline Graham Hansen had never been nominated for the Ballon d'Or. Despite having to conquer several injury obstacles, the Norwegian had been one of the most dominant and consistent wide players in the game since breaking through as a 15-year-old. Yet, somehow, she remained criminally underrated.

Graham Hansen's 2023-24 season could not be ignored, though. With 33 goals and 26 assists, the tricky winger helped Barcelona win a first-ever quadruple on the women's side and finally got the individual recognition she deserved, finishing second in the running for the Ballon d'Or, only behind team-mate Aitana Bonmati. "I don’t want to miss congratulating Caroline, who's joining me," Bonmati said as part of her acceptance speech. "Thank you for making me a better player and for our chemistry on the sideline."

Asked during that remarkable season what had made her level so great, Graham Hansen's response was spot on. "Nothing has changed," she told . "I think I was playing very well in the other years too, but because people only look at the numbers, they didn't look at it as much. I've scored more goals and people take notice of that."

The 29-year-old has been world-class for many, many years and her plaudits were long overdue. With 28 major titles to her name, including a trio of Champions League triumphs, Graham Hansen has easily been one of the best players of the 21st century – and, with her career nowhere near done, she'll only rocket up lists like this one over time.

AdvertisementGetty Images24Aya Miyama

Japan boasted one of the most enjoyable women's teams to watch through the first half of the 2010s, one that won an unlikely Women's World Cup in 2011, reached the final again four years later and clinched an Olympic silver medal at London 2012. Central to their success was Aya Miyama, the tricky playmaker who scored in that first triumph and captained the Nadeshiko through the latter two.

The three-time Asian Player of the Year would wreak havoc in the pockets of space she so easily found in between the opposition's defence and midfield, her creativity so often making Japan tick, while her deadly set-pieces and eye for goal made her a well-rounded threat that few could stop.

It is not just her exploits on the international stage that make Miyama worthy of being on this list, though. Sandwiched in between spells with Okayama Yunogo Belle in her homeland, which returned plenty of team and individual accolades, the midfielder also took her extraordinary talents to the U.S. and showcased them to one of the biggest audiences for women's soccer. The highlight of her short stay was certainly the 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season, when her league-leading assist tally helped a star-studded Los Angeles Sol side top the regular season standings, before falling agonisingly short in the Championship game.

Getty23Alexandra Popp

If it wasn't for injuries, Alexandra Popp would rank much higher on this list. Yet, despite those setbacks, the versatile forward has achieved plenty in her career to earn her spot. Third in the Germany women's national team's all-time scoring list, Popp may have missed her country's back-to-back World Cup triumphs and their flurry of European Championship titles, not making her debut at the latter tournament until she turned 31, but she more than played her part in a first Olympic gold medal in 2016. If she hadn't pulled up in the warm-up ahead of the Euro 2022 final against England, many believe Germany would've won that too.

At club level, Popp first tasted success at Duisburg, winning the Champions League and two domestic cups, but that went into overdrive when she completed a move to Wolfsburg in 2012. Nineteen major honours, including two more European titles, have since followed, with her a stalwart for the German giants as they established themselves as the biggest rival of continental powerhouse Lyon in the 2010s.

Most of the time, Popp's contributions to all these successes have come as a towering centre-forward, the kind that dominates aerial duels and has all the natural goal-scoring instincts to be a deadly fox in the box. However, her incredible talent is perhaps best illustrated by the variety of different roles she has played in her career. Be it as a No.10, a deep-lying midfielder or even in defence, Popp has so often showcased tactical intelligence, adaptability and a team-first attitude of the very highest level.

Getty22Sam Kerr

The number of records that Sam Kerr has broken in her career to date must be, well, record-breaking. The 31-year-old is the all-time top scorer for Australia, Perth Glory and the Chicago Red Stars, with that status at Chelsea firmly in her sights. Also the record scorer for the top divisions in Australia and the U.S. when she left both, though since overtaken, Kerr is an absolute goal machine who can count five Golden Boots from three different leagues on her mantlepiece.

Since moving to Chelsea at the start of 2020, she's started to rack up the team triumphs at a rapid rate, too. Kerr had tasted success at previous clubs, but her and Chelsea have proved to be a perfect marriage, with both taking the other to new levels. Through five successive Women's Super League titles, three FA Cup triumphs in a row and back-to-back League Cups, Kerr has so often come up with match-winners – and especially at Wembley, when it so often matters most. "I’ve never been there and not won a trophy," she said last year, explaining why it is her favourite stadium to play at. To date, she's visited on four occasions, scored five goals and won four titles.

Then there is what Kerr has done for her country. Captain of the Matildas, she was part of Australia's first Asian Cup-winning side back in 2010 and has since helped them become a genuine force in the women's game, guiding them with her goals and leadership to tournament semi-finals on a much more regular basis. As the face of her national team, what she has done for the game at home cannot be overstated.