5 greatest Female Footballers of all time
The sheer brilliance and dominance of some female footballers over the decades has clearly not gone unnoticed.They have continued to push the limit and break the stereotype that football is a men's sport which has helped to empower women and young girls across the globe.
The inevitable debate persisting in the world of football at its greatest of all time, popularly acronymed as the GOAT, has not been far away from the women's category as well.
In subsequent headings, we will be narrowing down a list of the 5 greatest female footballers of all time.
#5 Homare Sawa (Japanese female footballer)
Asian Women's football cannot be mentioned without the involvement of Homare Sawa, Japan's stalwart female footballer.
The attacking midfielder made her senior debut at the tender age of 12 in 1991. She led Japan to their first and only World Cup title in 2011 which also doubles as Japan being the only Asian country to win a World Cup title.
Sawa did not stop there, she helped her country qualify for their first Olympic finals in the subsequent year in 2012, where they won the silver medal.
Three years later, she and her teammates made the finals again at the World Cup but got the runners up medal this time around.
She and Brazil's Formiga were once tied for most appearances, male or female, at the World Cup in 2015. Formiga broke the tie in the 2019 version.
Homare Sawa was crowned FIFA Women's World Player of the Year #OnThisDay 
The @jfa_nadeshiko legend is one of the best midfielders our game has ever seen, a pivotal figure in the nation's first-ever #FIFAWWC triumph in 2011
🗓 9 January 2012
👸 Homare Sawa was crowned FIFA Women's World Player of the Year #OnThisDay
🇯🇵 The @jfa_nadeshiko legend is one of the best midfielders our game has ever seen, a pivotal figure in the nation's first-ever #FIFAWWC triumph in 2011 https://t.co/e07ADrnUPx
Sawa also enjoyed individual success as she won multiple awards, including the FIFA World Player of the Year, Golden Ball and Golden Shoe. She scored 83 goals in 205 appearances for Japan.
#4 Abby Wambach (American female footballer)
The American, whose diving headers made her distinct, takes our No. 4 spot. With 184 goals, Abby was the all-time top goal scorer in international football, male and female footballer, until Canada's Christine Sinclair surpassed her tally in January 2020.
Wambach is a six-time recipient of the U.S. Soccer Player of the Year, which still stands as a record.
Play together, score together, win together. ⚽⚽⚽
@AbbyWambach and @USWNT are #StrongerTogether. 💪 https://t.co/Nl2Io8H9oq
Wambach took pleasure in Olympic glories at the 2004 Athens and 2012 London Olympic Games where she was part of the gold medal winning teams. Her crucial last-minute header saw the US beat Brazil at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
She was part of the USWNT team that clinched the World Cup title in 2015 which was her last international competition. The American won the FIFA Women's Player of the Year award in 2012. She is joint-second on the list of the most goals scored in the FIFA Women's World Cup with 14, a record she shares along with the next player on the list.