The Women's Football Awards are awards recognising achievements in women's association football — both on-pitch performance and in promotion and sustainability — predominantly in the United Kingdom. Annual awards, they were first presented in 2023.
History The Women's Football Awards was announced in 2022 and was promoted as the first major awards event solely for women's football. Awards are presented in various categories relating to success in the game and in supporting its growth. While celebrating achievements globally, the focus of the awards is domestic women's football in the United Kingdom (and, generally, England). Ahead of the second edition, co-host Eni Aluko described the awards as "Britain and Europe's biggest award event for women's football". According to the Women's Football Awards website, the International Player of the Year award is for the best player on the world stage; they are still nominated by club.
Nominations are made by the public, with winners decided by a combination of public and jury votes.
Per Beth Mead, who supported the awards, they intend to "shine a light on the success in the game and the people, brands and organisations which support its growth". As of 2024, the awards are run in association with TikTok and Metro.
Winners and nominees 2023 The ceremony for the inaugural edition was held at the Nobu Hotel in London on 25 May 2023, hosted by former footballers and pundits Eni Aluko and Jamie Carragher. The major sponsor was Shein, which supported grassroots nominees to attend the ceremony. Entertainment was provided by Heather Small and Fleur East. In 2023, the awards were run in association with Mail Sport and Metro.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Karen Carney (144 England caps) Special Recognition Award: Carol Thomas (England captain at the first Women's Euro)
Alessia Russo (Manchester United) Millie Bright (Chelsea) Rachel Daly (Aston Villa) Mary Earps (Manchester United) Lauren Hemp (Manchester City) Chloe Kelly (Manchester City) Sam Kerr (Chelsea) Beth Mead (Arsenal) Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw (Manchester City) Leah Williamson (Arsenal) Keira Walsh (Barcelona and England) Lucy Bronze (Barcelona and England) Pernille Harder (Chelsea and Denmark) Marie-Antoinette Katoto (Lyon and France) Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal and Netherlands) Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave and United States) Alexia Putellas (Barcelona) Wendie Renard (Lyon and France) Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich and England) Caroline Weir (Real Madrid and Scotland) Lauren James (Chelsea) Missy Bo Kearns (Liverpool) Asmita Ale (Tottenham Hotspur) Laura Blindkilde Brown (Aston Villa) Melchie Dumornay (Reims) Mary Fowler (Manchester City) Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United) Jess Park (Everton) Poppy Pattinson (Brighton & Hove Albion) Ebony Salmon (Houston Dash) Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) Declan Rice (West Ham United) João Cancelo (Bayern Munich) David de Gea (Manchester United) Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) Rob Holding (Arsenal) Reece James (Chelsea) Harry Maguire (Manchester United) Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa) Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United) Manchester Laces — Inclusive To All Agility Life Sciences – GIFT Grants Everton – Grassroots Commitment Inspire Girls Football – IGF College Programme Miss Kick Foundation – Team Up To Level Up Sunderland Athletic Football Club – For Our Girls TGI Fridays – #CelebrateTheGame Tottenham Hotspur – Female Talent Pathway West Ham United – Player Development Pathway Weymouth Women – Grassroots Commitment Adidas – Pitch, Please McDonald's – Fun Football Coaching MissKick – The Football Clothing Brand for Her PepsiCo – Women in Football PlayStation – UEFA Women's Football Sky Sports – #WhatIf Starling Bank – Kick on with Starling Three Mobile – We See You Network Visa – Team Talks Vitality – Women's FA Cup Visa – When More of Us Play, All of Us Win American Express/Brighton & Hove Albion – Cheer Booth DAZN – This Is Elite eBay – eBay Dream Transfer EE – Hope United M&C Saatchi – Same City, Same Passion Nike – Never Seen Pepsi Max – Get Match Ready TikTok – Euro2022 – #WomenInSports Volkswagen – #NotWomensFootball Ian Wright Paul Barber Karen Carney Leah Case and Eve Ralph Tracey Crouch MP Emma Hayes Phil Neville Lisa O'Keefe Hope Powell Susan Whelan Rachel O'Sullivan & Sophie Downey (Girls On The Ball) Kate Abdo Kathryn Batte Faye Carruthers Tom Garry Charlotte Harpur Jacqui Oatley Alex Scott Fara Williams Laura Woods Manchester United Arsenal Aston Villa Brighton & Hove Albion Chelsea Everton Glasgow Rangers Leeds United Manchester City Southampton Fern Whelan Dawn Airey Vic Akers Aileen Campbell Yvonne Harrison Sian Massey-Ellis Sam Matterface Danetta Powell Sofia Thomas Rachel Yankey Three Mobile Cinch Enterprise Rent-A-Car Heineken Just Eat Pepsi Premier League Standard Chartered Starling Bank Twitter Arnold Clark Barclays Cinch Clarke Willmott Solicitors Continental EA Sports Euronics Everton Football Club Sports Direct Walkers/Lays FLOWSPORTS Brabners CAA Stellar Evelyn Partners IDA Sports Mills & Reeve Mishcon de Reya Tongue Tied Management Triple S Group Wasserman
2024 Aluko and Carragher returned as hosts for the ceremony on 30 May 2024, with Shein also returning as sponsor. In this edition, the categories also had a highly commended nominee behind the winner.
As well as the nominated awards, four categories were awarded without having named nominees. The first two were handed out before the nominated categories, and the second two at the end of the ceremony: Unsung Hero: Jane Purdon (former director of Women in Football, author) Inspirational Role Model: Steph Houghton Women's Football Ally: Jermaine Jenas Lifetime Achievement Award: Kerry Davis
Bunny Shaw Sam Kerr Millie Bright Jess Carter Mary Earps Lauren James Frida Maanum Katie McCabe Nikita Parris Guro Reiten Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich) Lucy Bronze (Barcelona) Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona) Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon) Jenni Hermoso (Tigres) Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg) Ewa Pajor (Wolfsburg) Salma Paralluelo (Barcelona) Wendie Renard (Lyon) Fridolina Rolfö (Barcelona) Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United) Laura Blindkilde Brown (Aston Villa) Aggie Beever-Jones (Chelsea) Grace Clinton (Manchester United) Kyra Cooney-Cross (Arsenal) Mary Fowler (Manchester City) Khiara Keating (Manchester City) Naomi Layzell (Bristol City) Jessica Naz (Tottenham Hotspur) Elisabeth Terland (Brighton & Hove Albion) Mary Earps (England) Aitana Bonmatí (Spain) Millie Bright (England) Linda Caicedo (Colombia) Olga Carmona (Spain) Steph Catley (Australia) Yui Hasegawa (Japan) Lauren Hemp (England) Amanda Ilestedt (Sweden) Jill Roord (Netherlands) Chelsea Brighton & Hove Albion Arsenal Lewes Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Southampton Tottenham Hotspur Wrexham Sarina Wiegman CBE Emma Hayes OBE Matt Beard Darren Carter Steven Dale Jonas Eidevall Jo Potter Leanne Ross Marc Skinner Gareth Taylor Alex Scott MBE Kate Abdo Rachel Brown-Finnis Reshmin Chowdhury Charlotte Harpur Emma Jones Lianne Sanderson Sirayah Shiraz Lucy Ward Laura Woods Disney — UEFA Playmakers McDonald's Fun Football Programme Beyond the Ball — Football For Women Chelsea Foundation — Nothing Stops Us Festival Fulham F.C. — Sister Club Programme MSB Woolton FC Rochdale A.F.C./Keira Walsh — Keira Walsh Rochdale Girls Development Centre Scottish Power — Scottish Youth Challenge Cup Starling Bank — Kick On Weymouth Women Gillette/Lotte Wubben-Moy — MoveYourSkin Panini — WSL stickers Asahi — Super Dry 0.0% Partnership Barclays — Land of Football Google/Megan Rapinoe — #FixedonPixel Johnnie Walker — Johnnie Walker & Hannah Waddingham Pepsi Max — Our Pride Shines Bright Sky Sports — Keep Up Sure — Breaking Limits Visa — Celebrating Squad Goals The FA — Lionesses Adidas — Play Until They Can't Look Away Adobe — Women's FA Cup Bluebella — Strong is Beautiful Burnley Football Club — TikTok partnership Cisco — Helping Women Kick Goals FIFA — Women's World Cup Google/The Athletic — My Game in My Words Heineken — The Social Swap Unilever/TikTok — Women's World Cup Manchester United Brighton & Hove Albion/American Express EAFC24 Expedia/Liverpool Women GirlsOnTheBall Hyundai/Common Goal Just Eat Transport for London Versus/Glamour UK WSL Collective
Yvonne Harrison Fara Williams MBE Vic Akers OBE Dame Sarai Bareman Barbara Charone Natasha Dowie Michele Kang Jacqui Oatley MBE Alex Scott MBE Rachel Yankey OBE EA Sports Wasserman A&V Sports Arete CAA Sports Entain MatchFit TNT Sport Tongue Tied Management Triple S Sport Tottenham Hotspur — Girls Elite Programme Standard Chartered/Liverpool FC Arnold Clark Arsenal — South Asian Pathway Barclays Community Football Fund eToro/West Ham United Everton — Equality Shirt Her Game Too Hyundai — Goal of the Century Sky Sports/Women in Football Premier League Moore Kingston Smith Cadbury Euronics Evelyn Partners McDonald's Mills & Reeve Relo Metrics Sports Direct Xero Scottish Power Rept Sports Gravity Media Il Makiage Joie Lawrence Stephens Sports Team LiveScore Livida Sport Sedulo Skoda Sharon Brittan Anna Deignan Zarah Al-Kudcy Paul Barber Karren Brady CBE Catherine Forshaw Georgie Hodge Preeti Shetty Christina Taylor Susan Whelan OBE Katie Gritt (Panini) Ellie Cross (Starling Bank) Dawn Airey (Barclay's FA WSL and Championship) Donna-Maria Cullen (Tottenham Hotspur) Nikki Doucet (NewCo) Fran Kirby (Chelsea) Laura McAllister (UEFA) Rida Mohammad (MACE Group) Leigh Nicol (Crystal Palace) Lola Ogunbote (Burnley) Victoire Cogevina Reynal Jill Scott MBE Nouhaila Benzina Gillian Coulthard MBE Hannah Dingley Debbie Hewitt Rafaela Pimenta Natalie Portman Kelly Simmons OBE Rebecca Welch Adidas Barclays Coca-Cola eToro Puma Scottish Power Starling Bank Three Mobile Unilever Xero
2025 The 2025 ceremony was held on 1 May 2025, hosted by sports broadcaster Gabby Logan as well as the returning Carragher. Aluko had also been set to return as presenter but pulled out the day before the ceremony due to controversy after she criticised pundit Ian Wright, saying she did not want her presence to take attention away from the awards.
Anita Asante, who received the Game Changer award, dedicated her win to transgender footballers after announcements by The Football Association and Scottish Football Association that these players would be banned. She called on current professional players to also show their support for the transgender community.
Unsung Hero: Fiona McIntyre (managing director of the Scottish Women's Premier League) Inspirational Role Model: Keira Walsh (for contributions to the Rochdale A.F.C. Girls' Development Centre) Women's Football Icon: Viviane Asseyi Lifetime Achievement Award: Kelly Simmons OBE (director of Women in Football)
Alessia Russo Lauren James Jessica Naz Khadija "Bunny" Shaw Bethany England Ella Toone Frida Maanum Vivianne Miedema Guro Reiten Viviane Asseyi Mary Fowler Leah Williamson Alexia Putellas (Barcelona) Clara Matéo (Paris FC) Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich) Linda Caicedo (Real Madrid) Caroline Graham Hansen (Barcelona) Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona) Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon) Marie-Antoinette Katoto (Paris Saint-Germain) Pernille Harder (Bayern Munich) Christiane Endler (Lyon) Lea Schüller (Bayern Munich) Chiamaka Nnadozie (Paris FC) Aggie Beever-Jones Anouk Denton Issy Hobson Michelle Agyemang Kyra Cooney-Cross Grace Clinton Olivia Smith Laura Blindkilde Brown Elisabeth Terland Lenna Gunning-Williams Missy Goodwin Katie Robinson Sonia Bompastor Sarina Wiegman Amy Merricks Marc Skinner Robert Vilahamn Jocelyn Prêcheur Nick Cushing Karen Hills Dario Vidošić Jo Potter Leanne Ross Grant Scott