Three USWNT players made France Football’s list of Ballon d’Or nominees
The 2022 Ballon d’Or nominees are out, and with three USWNT players making France Football’s 20-player shortlist.
Catarina Macario, Alex Morgan, and Trinity Rodman were all nominated for the award, which was inaugurated in 2018 after existing for over 60 years on the men’s side. The Ballon d’Or focuses on the 2021-22 season, rather than a calendar year body of work.
The USWNT has been somewhat curiously overlooked by the Ballon d’Or, with only the 2019 World Cup-winning team really registering with voters. That year, Megan Rapinoe won the Ballon d’Or, with Alex Morgan coming in third, but in 2018 and 2021 (there was no 2020 award due to the Covid-19 pandemic), no USWNT players or NWSL-based players made the top three.
Macario may be injured at the moment, but she emerged as a locked-in starter essentially from the moment she arrived at Lyon. She capped off a spectacular season in France by scoring in the Champions League final as Lyon defeated a Barcelona side that had lost just once all year coming into the match.
Morgan’s return from giving birth has included a change of club, but she’s also had arguably the best club season of her entire career with the San Diego Wave. Morgan has 15 goals in 18 competitive games for San Diego this season, and then won the Golden Ball at the CONCACAF W Championship after helping the USWNT qualify for both the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympics.
Rodman was one of the stories of the 2021 NWSL season, winning the Rookie of the Year award and being a crucial factor for the Washington Spirit’s run to their first-ever league championship. Since the start of August 2021, Rodman has posted 12 goals and 8 assists, including an equalizer in last year’s semifinal and the assist on the Kelley O’Hara goal that gave the Spirit their first trophy.
The USWNT trio are joined on the list by a familiar group of players who all happen to call Europe’s biggest clubs their home. Macario is one of five Lyon players nominated, while Barcelona matched that total, meaning that two clubs employ half of the list of nominees.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, and Wolfsburg had two players on the shortlist each, with the entirety of the NWSL being represented by Morgan and Rodman.
The full list of 2022 Women’s Ballon d’Or nominees
- Selma Bacha (Lyon)
- Aitana BonmatĂ (Barcelona)
- Millie Bright (Chelsea)
- Lucy Bronze (Barcelona)
- Kadidiatou Diani (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Christiane Endler (Lyon)
- Ada Hegerberg (Lyon)
- Marie-Antoinette Katoto (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Sam Kerr (Chelsea)
- Catarina Macario (Lyon)
- Beth Mead (Arsenal)
- Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal)\
- Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC)
- Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg)
- Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona)
- Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg)
- Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
- Wendie Renard (Lyon)
- Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit)
- Fridolina Rolfö (Barcelona)
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