FIFA Best Women’s Player of the Year 2022: who else is on shortlist along with Lioness star Beth Mead?

Euros 2022 hero Beth Mead has been shortlisted to win the FIFA Best Women’s Player of the Year Award 2022 and will be in the running along with Spain’s Alexia Putellas and Alex Morgan of the United States.

Fifa’s ‘The Best’ awards cover games played between 7 August 2021 and 31 July 2022 - the day of the Euros final and the same day Mead not only lifted the trophy, but won two personal awards: Player of the tournament and Golden Boot. Initially, 14 players were nominated for the award and had been chosen by a panel of experts and from this group, three finalists were selected from an international jury comprising of four groups: women’s national team coaches, women’s national team captains, women’s football journalists and fans who voted on FIFA’s official website.

Mead will find out her fate on Monday 27 February and the winner will be announced in Paris.

Here is all you need to know about the three potential winners of the award...

Beth Mead - Arsenal and England

Mead went from not making selection for the 2019 World Cup to winning Player of the Tournament at the 2022 Euros. During the 2021/22 Women’s Super League season, Mead scored 11 goals in 23 matches as Arsenal pushed their title competitors, Chelsea, until the final day with the Blues ultimately coming out on top to win the league.

The 27-year-old then followed up a tremendous domestic season with six goals and four assists during the Euros, as well as 13 goals and 12 assists in the ten World Cup qualifiers. She recently celebrated her 50th cap for England but a week later she sustained an ACL injury, cutting her season short. She has, however, vowed to do everything she can to return in time for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup which starts this July.

Along with her numerous awards this summer, Mead also won BBC Sports Personality of the Year and was runner-up to Putellas at the Ballon d’Or ceremony.

Alex Morgan - San Diego Wave and USA

Morgan was the leading scorer in her debut season at San Diego Wave, scoring 15 goals in just 17 matches. The 33-year-old was also the joint-top scorer and Player of the Tournament at the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship, hitting the winner against Canada in the final.

Morgan is known for her phenomenal pace, ball control and ruthless finishing ability and in November, she made her 200th senior appearance for her country. USA beat Germany 2-1 in a friendly and Morgan became just the 13th female American player to reach that landmark.

Alexia Putellas - Barcelona and Spain

Putellas won the Best FIFA Women’s Player of the Award last year and following a strong season, she is on course to win again in 2023. The Barcelona captain’s creativity and goal-scoring prowess helped her side to win all 30 of their Primera Division matches last season.

The 29-year-old also shone at European level, ending the 2021/22 UEFA Women’s Champions League as topscorer with 11 goals. Across all competitions, the Spanish star scored 34 times. Unfortunately, an ACL injury meant Putellas was unable to compete at the Euros 2022. If the 2022 Ballon d’Or winner wins the Best Women’s Player award, she will become the first person to be honoured with the prize for two consecutive years.

Previous winners of the award

The award was first given to women as well in 2016. Here are all the previous winners of FIFA Best Women’s Player of the Year:

• 2016 - Carli Lloyd (USA)
• 2017- Lieke Martens (Netherlands)
• 2018 - Marta (Brazil)
• 2019 - Megan Rapinoe (USA)
• 2020 - Lucy Bronze (England)
• 2020 - Alexia Putellas (Spain)