Golden Boot favorites World Cup Women 2023: who will be top scorer?
The 2023 Women’s World Cup Golden Boot race could be fascinating with a host of very talented goalscorers heading to Australia and New Zealand.
While there will be some notable players out of the tournament – ​​Euro 2022 Golden Boot winner Beth Mead is unlikely to make it, and Vivianne Miedema, two-time Women’s Super League Golden Boot winner – there will be still be enough. feel they can help their country achieve both individual and national glory.
So who hopes to win the Golden Boot of the 2023 Women’s World Cup?
2023 World Cup Women’s Golden Boot: Sam Kerr (Australia)
Australia’s all-time top goalscorer and captain Sam Kerr will never have been more motivated to show off her goal-scoring prowess. Kerr is widely recognized as one of the best strikers in the world, and although it was thought she wasn’t as free for Chelsea this season as in previous seasons, she still finished the season with 29 goals.
The winner of this season’s FA Cup final and a penalty kick in the shoot-out against Lyon in the quarter-finals of the Champions League has also shown that she is at her best in the most intense moments. She scored five times at the 2019 World Cup and then just missed out on the Golden Shoe.
With the support of a home crowd and in an Australian squad hoping to challenge the World Cup favourites, it’s hard to look past Kerr.
Alex Morgan (United States)
Another player who just missed out on the Golden Boot in 2019 was American Alex Morgan.
Morgan scored the same number of goals as official top scorer Megan Rapinoe, including her famous tea drinking party in the semi-final against England, but missed assists.
While many may have thought Morgan’s international career was on the wane (much like Rapinoe’s), her 15 goals in the NWSL last season earned her the Golden Boot.
The only thing that could stand in Alex Morgan’s way? One of her own teammates on the United States World Cup squad. Portland Thorns’ Sophia Smith could potentially be nominated to play as the USA’s starting striker after finishing second to Morgan in the NWSL Golden Boot. Smith has already scored four goals in seven league matches this year.
Alexia Putellas (Spain)
Amazingly, two-time Ballon D’Or winner Alexia Putellas has never scored at a World Cup. But now that she’s recovered from the ACL injury that ruled her out of Euro 2022, she expects this World Cup to be her chance to remind everyone what they’ve been missing.
A lot has changed for Putellas since the last World Cup as she has risen to superstardom in women’s football. She may not play as a striker, but having scored 34 times in 42 appearances in the pre-injury season, she is no stranger to finding the back of the net, and the Spanish team will rely on her goals.
Alex Popp (Germany)
The winner of the Silver Boot at Euro 2022, Alex Popp’s goals were remarkable, as she scored in every game up to the final, where she was unable to play due to injury. Despite also scoring six goals, Beth Mead won the Golden Boot thanks to more assists.
Many may have thought Popp would be overtaken by Lea Schüller as the starting striker for the German national team, but the veteran has shown just how deadly she can still be.
Marta (Brazil)
Marta, the only person on this list to have won the Golden Boot before, received the honor in 2007 as a 21-year-old. She was the first footballer ever to score in five consecutive World Cups and will aim to become the first to do so in six by 2023. She also holds the record for the most goals ever scored in World Cups.
Marta has missed many time-outs over the past year due to injury and there will be plenty of questions as to whether she can regain her old form for Brazil’s World Cup squad. But it would be foolish to write her off.
Ada Hegerberg (Norway)
Former Ballon D’Or winner Ada Hegerberg missed the 2019 World Cup in protest at the Norwegian federation’s treatment of the women’s team. However, returning to the squad ahead of Euro 2022, it was a disappointing return to international tournament football. Hegerberg failed to score in three group stage matches as Norway made an embarrassing early exit.
Her troubles didn’t end there, however, as she missed the vast majority of this season through injury, having been sidelined for 21 months between January 2020 and October 2021.
Now they’ve signed former Silver Boot winner Hege Riise to captain Norway’s World Cup squad, and with Guro Reiten and Caroline Graham Hansen on either side of Hegerberg in a relatively easy World Cup group, she could fill her boots early.
Bunny Shaw (Jamaica)
Bunny Shaw has shared how impressed she was at her first World Cup in 2019. Shaw, who qualified for a historic second time with her Reggae Girlz, hopes to score her first goal during the match.
She comes after a breakaway season in England, where she led the race for the WSL Golden Boot at Manchester City all year. The 26-year-old averages close to a goal per game and will be a handful for defense as part of the Jamaica squad.
Rachel Daly (England)
Bunny Shaw has been pushed all the way by Rachel Daly in the WSL. The 31-year-old played as a left-back for England at Euro 2022, but joined Aston Villa in the summer as a striker, where she played at club level for a number of years.
For anyone who missed her in that role for the Houston Dash in America, she was a revelation.
It is unclear whether Daly will start for Alessia Russo in the England World Cup squad. With the retirement of Ellen White and the absence of Beth Mead due to injuries, Sarina Wiegman’s squad is currently feeling a little short on goalscorers. But Daly is definitely England’s number 9 in form.
Pernille Harder (Denmark)
Pernille Harder will make her World Cup debut with Denmark, who have not qualified for the competition since 2007. Harder, who recently announced she would be leaving Chelsea after three seasons, has been out for much of this season following surgery on her hamstring. But she has returned to football in devastating form looking incredibly fit and fresh.
The Danish team have a tough group that includes England, but if they can get off to a good start, Harder could have a good shot at the Golden Boot.
Barbara Banda (Zambia)
Granted, more of a left field option, but don’t write Barbra Banda off just because of the country she plays for. The 23-year-old caught the world’s attention at the Toyko Olympics, where she scored back-to-back hat-tricks against the Netherlands and China, writing her name in the history books.
Banda was forced to miss the Africa Cup of Nations due to her testosterone levels, with the Confederation of African Football having stricter rules than the Olympics. But she will be included in Zambia’s World Cup squad again and could be ready to put on another show.
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