Hello everyone, In the same spirit as the other topic that represents the men's Ballon d'Or revisited by BigSoccer users (https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/ballon-dor-awards-revisited-by-bigsoccer-users.2119696/), here I wanted to focus on women's soccer and the potential Ballon d'Or winners before its creation. Of course, women's soccer has taken a long time to become professional, but we have to take into account that women were already playing soccer at the same time as men, at the end of the 19th century. So, I made a first quick research about the potential winners, but I'm terribly lacking of sources and opinions, because it's so much harder to find a consensus than with men. If someone wants to collaborate, you are welcome. In order to estimate the Best Women Player of the Year, I tried to find some Best Women Players of big tournaments, who could be regarded as "maybe" the Best Player of the Year before 2001. 1984: Pia Sundhage 1985: Beck Sharon McMurtry 1986: April Heinrichs 1987: Heidi Støre / Carin Jennings 1988: Michelle Akers 1989: Doris Fitschen 1990: April Kater 1991: Carin Jennings (2?) 1992: Mia Hamm / Carin Jennings (3?) 1993: Hege Riise 1994: Tisha Venturini 1995: Hege Riise (2) 1996: Shannon MacMillan 1997: Carolina Morace 1998: Cindy Parlow 1999: Sun Wen 2000: Hege Riise (3) And of course, here are the titles of the best players of the year, first with the FIFA award, then the Ballon d'Or (in competition with the FIFA the Best award) 2001: Hamm (2?), Wen, Milbrett, 2002: Hamm (3?), Prinz, Wen 2003: Prinz, Hamm, Ljungberg 2004: Prinz (2), Hamm, Marta 2005: Prinz (3), Marta, Boxx 2006: Marta, Lilly, Lingor 2007: Marta (2), Prinz, Cristiane 2008: Marta (3), Prinz, Cristiane 2009: Marta (4), Prinz, Smith 2010: Marta (5), Prinz, Bajramaj 2011: Sawa, Marta, Wambach 2012: Wambach, Marta, Morgan 2013: Angerer, Wambach, Marta 2014: Kessler, Marta, Wambach 2015: Lloyd, Sasic, Miyama 2016: Lloyd (2), Marta, Behringer 2017: Martens, Lloyd, Castellanois 2018: Hegerberg, Harder, Marozsan (Ballon d'Or) / Marta (6), Marozsan, Hegerberg (FIFA the Best) 2019: Rapinoe, Bronze, Morgan / Rapinoe, Morgan, Bronze 2020: Bronze, Harder, Renard (FIFA the Best only) 2021: Putellas, Hermoso, Kerr / Putellas, Kerr, Hermoso At this point, at the number of successes per player we have: - Marta (5 or 6) - Prinz (3) - Hamm (3?) - Carin Jennings (3?) - Hege Riise (3?) - Lloyd (2) It's extremely difficult to say, and I based my opinion on the titles of best player in the major competitions in those years OR the best player in the US championship, because at that time that's where the best players were. So, players like Carin Jennings or Mia Hamm, come back often, but it is difficult without more knowledge, to know many "Women Ballon d'Or" they should have won. Do not hesitate to tell me your opinion Cheers!
Cool thread! For 1988, I'm going to challenge your selection of Michelle Akers. FIFA organized an unofficial World Cup in China in 1988 where Norway won. Linda Medalen scored four goals and was match-winner in the final against Sweden. Her club Asker won the Norwegian Toppserien that year and Medalen was top scorer with 22 goals (in 18 matches). Linda Medalen certainly rivalled Hege Riise in Norway as far as star quality goes in those early years up to the mid-1990s. She later moved back to defence towards the end of her career.