The race to be named the world’s best female footballer is the most open in years, and the 2026 Women’s Ballon d’Or could produce a new winner for the first time since 2023. The Moving the Goalposts power rankings set out a 30-player field of contenders, led by the OL Lyonnes and Haiti midfielder Melchie Dumornay and featuring Ewa Pajor, Khadija Shaw, Alexia Putellas, Yui Hasegawa and Alessia Russo among the frontrunners.
Dumornay takes top spot. She was part of the Lyonnes side beaten 4-0 by Barcelona in last season’s Champions League final, but her influence in midfield as the club cruised to a domestic treble earned her the player-of-the-year award from the French players’ union. The 23-year-old’s importance was most starkly shown by her absence through injury for the 2-1 Champions League semi-final first-leg defeat to Arsenal; she returned for the second leg and produced a player-of-the-match performance in a 3-1 win. She scored five goals in Lyonnes’ Champions League run and was named in the team of the tournament.
Ewa Pajor is second. After losing five Champions League finals, the 29-year-old Poland international finally shook off her ‘always the bridesmaid, never the bride’ tag, scoring twice as Barcelona thrashed Lyonnes in Oslo. Her 11 goals in European competition last season matched Alexia Putellas’ 2021-22 tally and have not been bettered since Ada Hegerberg’s record 15 in 2017-18, making her the only player to reach double figures in the competition. She also scored 16 goals in Liga F, behind only her Barcelona teammate Claudia Pina’s 21.
Khadija Shaw is third, and her case rests on a season of relentless consistency. The 29-year-old is the only player to have won three Women’s Super League golden boots, and she won them consecutively. She scored 21 goals in 22 games as Manchester City swept to a league and FA Cup double and, to the club’s relief, signed a new contract. Her hold-up play, defensive work and vision drew praise alongside her goalscoring, and she collected both the PFA and FWA player of the year awards. She also scored nine goals, earning a place in the Best XI, in Concacaf Women’s Championship qualification as Jamaica reached the tournament proper.
Alexia Putellas, a two-time Ballon d’Or winner, is fourth after a stunning final season at Barcelona before her July move to London City Lionesses. The 32-year-old’s return to her best form took time after the anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2022 that ruled her out of that summer’s Euros. She scored seven goals in the Champions League and nine goals with seven assists in Liga F as Barcelona won a quadruple, and she struck the second and third goals in a 4-0 win over England that secured Spain’s World Cup qualification at their opponents’ expense. Yui Hasegawa completes the top five, a third appearance on the Ballon d’Or longlist after missing out last year; the 29-year-old was a critical part of City’s double, was named in the PFA team of the year and helped Japan to a third AFC Women’s Asian Cup title, eight years after their previous one, earning World Cup qualification in the process.
Alessia Russo is sixth. Arsenal endured a disappointing season, securing only the Fifa Champions Cup, but the 27-year-old stepped up for club and country, switching between the No 9 and No 10 roles, and was named in the PFA team of the year. Her goal against Iceland in England’s World Cup qualifying campaign in April moved her into the Lionesses’ top 10 goalscorers. Temwa Chawinga follows in seventh, the NWSL’s top scorer and most valuable player for a second successive season after 15 goals brought Kansas City Current the NWSL Shield; she also scored five goals as Malawi, first-time qualifiers, reached the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations final and their first World Cup.
Claudia Pina is eighth, her 21 goals and five assists in Liga F standing out even as a quieter Champions League campaign brought two goals, neither in the knockouts; she scored twice in Spain’s World Cup qualifying, including the fourth against England. Patri Guijarro, ninth, makes everything tick for Barcelona and was critical to the quadruple, and has been handed the club captaincy since Putellas’ exit. Barbra Banda rounds out the top 10: the Orlando Pride forward scored eight goals as her club finished fourth in the NWSL, was named in the Fifpro Women’s World XI, and finished as joint-top scorer at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations with five goals, level with Chawinga and Cameroon’s Marie Ngah Manga.
Kerstin Casparij leads the next group in 11th, having supplied the joint-most assists in the WSL last season, seven, as Manchester City secured a second WSL title and their first in 10 years; the full-back also captained the side when Alex Greenwood was injured. Mariona Caldentey is 12th, Caroline Graham Hansen 13th, Selma Bacha 14th, Pernille Harder 15th, Vivianne Miedema 16th and Mapi León 17th, before Rose Lavelle, Lorena and Manaka Matsukubo make up the top 20. Lavelle scored the 80th-minute winner in the NWSL Championship final for Gotham FC, who had scraped into the playoffs with an eighth-place finish; Lorena kept 14 clean sheets and was named NWSL goalkeeper of the year; and Matsukubo scored 11 goals for North Carolina Courage before a July move to Chelsea.
Beyond the top 20, the ranking lists Klara Bühl (21st), Cata Coll (22nd), Alex Greenwood (23rd), Wendie Renard (24th), Esmee Brugts (25th), Momoko Tanikawa (26th), Caroline Weir (27th), Melvine Malard (28th), Scarlett Camberos (29th) and Tessa Wullaert (30th).