FIFA Women's World Cup: These Are the 26 Players You Want to Keep Your Eyes On
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This Summer, the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup will be taking place across four cities in France. A total of 24 countries will be represented, with teams from every continent facing off in the huge tournament from Friday, June 7 to Sunday, July 7. One of the most exciting parts of the tournament is getting to see the very best female players in the world team up and face off against each other in an all-star international matchup nearly on par with the Olympics.
With so many big names on the rosters, there are a ton of stories to follow. We've rounded up over two dozen of the most interesting players to keep an eye on during the tournament, from big-name stars to talented up-and-comers — check out our picks.
01
Sole Jaimes (Argentina)
- Age: 30
- Position: Forward
- Career Highlight: Scoring five goals in the 2018 Copa América Femenina
02
Sam Kerr (Australia)
- Age: 25
- Position: Forward
- Career Highlight: Selected as the team captain for the Australian national team after becoming the all-time best scorer in the National Women's Soccer League.
03
Marta (Brazil)
- Age: 33
- Position: Forward
- Career Highlight: Holding the record for the most goals scored in the FIFA Women's World Cup, she was named the Best FIFA Women's World Player in 2018.
04
Christine Manie (Cameroon)
- Age: 35
- Position: Defender
- Career Highlight: Manie scored a goal in added time at the CAF 2018 Africa Women's Cup of Nations, sending her country's team to the 2019 World Cup.
05
Christine Sinclair (Canada)
- Age: 35
- Position: Forward
- Career Highlight: Sinclair is currently second place in all-time international goals scored for players of any gender.
06
Yanara Aedo (Chile)
- Age: 25
- Position: Midfielder
- Career Highlight: On the way to qualifying the Chilean team for the World Cup, Aedo personally scored three goals out of the team's thirteen.
07
Wang Shuang (China)
- Age: 24
- Position: Midfielder
- Career Highlight: In 2018, she became the first Chinese player to score a goal in the UEFA Women's Champions League.
08
Fran Kirby (England)
- Age: 25
- Position: Forward
- Career Highlight: In 2018, she won the Professional Footballers' Association Women's Player of the Year and the inaugural Football Writers' Women's Footballer of the Year awards.
09
Amadine Henry (France)
- Age: 29
- Position: Midfielder
- Career Highlight: Henry was awarded the Silver Ball Award as the tournament's Second Best Player at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
10
Dzsenifer Marozsan (Germany)
- Age: 27
- Position: Midfielder
- Career Highlight: In 2018, she was nominated for the prestigious Ballon d'Or Féminin.
11
Cecilia Salvai (Italy)
- Age: 25
- Position: Defender
- Career Highlight: Along with her teammates, Salvai's goal-scoring helped get Italy's team to their first World Cup since 1999.
12
Jody Brown (Jamaica)
- Age: 17
- Position: Forward
- Career Highlight: In the tournament that sent Jamaica's team to the World Cup, Brown was named the Concacaf Best Young Player of the tournament.
13
Yuka Momiki (Japan)
- Age: 23
- Position: Forward/midfielder
- Career Highlight: At the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, Momiki scored four times in six matches to help Japan to a third-place finish.
14
Sherida Spitse (Netherlands)
- Age: 28
- Position: Midfielder
- Career Highlight: Spitse was so in-demand that, in 2014, her transfer from one team to another became the first paid swap in Dutch soccer history.
15
Rosie White (New Zealand)
- Age: 25
- Position: Forward/striker
- Career Highlight: Back in 2008, White scored back-to-back World Cup hat tricks: the first against Colombia in the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup and a second against Chile in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup two weeks later.
16
Rasheedat Ajibade (Nigeria)
- Age: 19
- Position: Forward
- Career Highlight: In 2017, she was named the most promising young soccer player on the African continent.
17
Lisa-Marie Utland (Norway)
- Age: 26
- Position: Forward
- Career Highlight: In the European qualifiers, Utland scored seven goals, putting her in a tie for the second-highest number in the whole tournament.
18
Erin Cuthbert (Scotland)
- Age: 20
- Position: Forward
- Career Highlight: At the 2017 UEFA Women's Championship, Cuthbert scored Scotland's historic first-ever goal at a major women's tournament.
19
Kim Little (Scotland)
- Age: 28
- Position: Midfielder
- Career Highlight: In 2016, she was named BBC Women's Footballer of the Year.
20
Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa)
- Age: 23
- Position: Forward
- Career Highlight: Kgetlana is the reigning CAF African Women's Player of the Year.
21
Ji So-Yun (South Korea)
- Age: 28
- Position: Midfielder
- Career Highlight: Ji is the all-time top goal scorer on the South Korean women's national team.
22
Jennifer Hermoso Fuentes (Spain)
- Age: 28
- Position: Forward/attacking midfielder
- Career Highlight: During the qualifying rounds for the World Cup, she made an impressive nine assists and seven goals.
23
Stina Blackstenius (Sweden)
- Age: 23
- Position: Forward/striker
- Career Highlight: Blackstenius scored a goal in the gold-medal match at the 2016 Olympics, where Sweden ultimately won the silver medal.
24
Kanjana Sungngoen (Thailand)
- Age: 32
- Position: Forward
- Career Highlight: Sungngoen helped secure her team's berth in the World Cup with a key goal during the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
25
Lindsay Horan (United States)
- Age: 24
- Position: Midfielder
- Career Highlight: In 2018, she was named the year's Most Valuable Player by the National Women's Soccer League.
26
Megan Rapinoe (United States)
- Age: 33
- Position: Midwinger/forward
- Career Highlight: At the 2012 London Olympics, she became the first player ever to score an "Olympic goal" (a goal direct from a corner kick) at Olympic Games.