Lindsey Horan is the lone U.S. women’s national team player to receive a nomination for the 2023 Best FIFA Women’s Player award.
The 29-year-old co-captain scored two goals for the USWNT at the 2023 World Cup, tied with the team’s lone Ballon d’Or nominee Sophia Smith. No other U.S. player scored a goal at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand. Horan also starts in midfield for French club Lyon in Division 1 Féminine.
Alexia Putellas, who won the 2021 and 2022 Best Player awards, is notably absent from the 2023 list after spending the last year recovering from an ACL tear. Beth Mead and Alex Morgan, the runners-up for the 2022 award, also failed to make the cut. Mead has been out since December 2022 with an ACL tear.
World Cup champion Spain counted four nominees, including Aitana Bonmati, who won the Golden Ball at the World Cup, as well as Jenni Hermoso, Mapi Leon and Salma Paralluelo.
England tied Spain with four nominees, with Rachel Daly leading the way. Alex Greenwood, Lauren James and Keira Walsh also are nominated.
Australia star Sam Kerr received a nod, and she is joined by two fellow Matildas in Caitlin Foord and Mary Fowler. Colombia’s Linda Caicedo, France’s Kadidiatou Diani, Sweden’s Amanda Illestedt and Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa, the World Cup Golden Boot winner, round out the nominees.
Nominees for the Best Coach award include England’s Sarina Wiegman, who won the award last year, Australia’s Tony Guastavsson and Sweden’s Peter Gerhardsson. Two club coaches also received nominations: Chelsea’s Emma Hayes and FC Barcelona’s Jonatan Giráldez.
England’s Mary Earps is once again nominated for Best Goalkeeper and is looking to win the award in back-to-back years. She’s joined by Mackenzie Arnold (Australia), Ann-Katrin Berger (Germany), Christiane Endler (Chile), Zecira Musovic (Sweden), Catalina Coll (Spain) and Sandra Paños (Spain).
Presenting #TheBest FIFA Women's Player Nominees 🏆🎉
— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) September 14, 2023
🇪🇸 Aitana Bonmati
🇨🇴 Linda Caicedo
🏴 Rachel Daly
🇫🇷 Kadidiatou Diani
🇦🇺 Caitlin Foord
🇦🇺 Mary Fowler
🏴 Alex Greenwood
🇪🇸 Jennifer Hermoso
🇺🇸 Lindsey Horan
🇸🇪 Amanda Ilestedt
🏴 Lauren James
🇦🇺 Sam Kerr
🇪🇸 Mapi Leon
🇯🇵…
Team Great Britain announced its final roster for the Tokyo Olympics yesterday.
BREAKING: Team GB women’s football squad announced
— Molly Hudson (@M0lly_Writes) May 27, 2021
Jordan Nobbs and Alex Greenwood notable omissions. Karen Bardsley a surprise inclusion
11 of the 18 formed by Manchester City players
Kim Little, Caroline Weir (both 🏴 ) and Sophie Ingle (🏴) non English representation pic.twitter.com/TIhsqVeGEl
Notably, Jordan Nobbs and Alex Greenwood were left off of the squad. It will be Nobbs’ second consecutive major tournament miss after she suffered an ACL injury that left her out of the World Cup in 2019. Meanwhile, Manchester City defender Greenwood is coming off of a particularly strong season with City who placed second in the league table.
The defender took to Twitter Thursday to express her “devastation” and wish the team well. “It’s such an amazing opportunity for the girls,” Greenwood wrote. “I’ll be fully supporting them from back home.”
🇬🇧💙 pic.twitter.com/v7VFWNcolw
— Alex Greenwood (@AlexGreenwood) May 27, 2021
11 of the 18 total players come from Manchester City while Kim Little (Scotland), Caroline Weir (Scotland) and Sophie Ingle (Wales) are the only non-English representation on the team.
Goalkeeper Karen Bardsley may have been the most surprising inclusion. Bardsley has only made one appearance since the 2019 World Cup, a game against Canada in April that saw the England women lose 2-0.
Team Great Britain is set to begin the round table in Group E alongside Japan, Canada and Chile.