Ranked! The 10 best right-wing women in the world
The winger role is one of the most exciting in football. The very best are able to trick full-backs with their speed and trickery on the ball. Some are goal scorers, while others specialize in creating for other players on their team. Here are our top 10 best female right wingers in the world.
Best right-wing women in the world: 10. Athenea del Castillo (Real Madrid)
Included in the top ten right winger but equally capable of playing on either side of the pitch, 22-year-old Athenea del Castillo has emerged as one of the stars of a Real Madrid side on the rise. Athenea’s direct play has proved particularly difficult for defenders to deal with and this season she helped Real Madrid safely enter the group stage with 2 goals and 3 assists in their 5-1 aggregate win over Rosenborg.
But it is her role in Spain’s quarter-final against England that has perhaps brought her the most spotlight. Introduced at half time, it was her dribble that set off Esther Gonzalez’s opener for Spain, sending Rachel Daly tripping over her feet. It may not have been enough to send Spain through in the end, but it was certainly an unforgettable moment.
9. Tabea Wassmuth (Wolfsburg)
Tabea Waßmuth, taken over from Hoffenheim at the start of last season, showed no signs of needing time to adjust to playing at the highest level. As a joint second-highest goalscorer in the Frauen Bundesliga and in the Champions League, Waßmuth proved himself to be a finisher of the highest quality.
She scored four goals in Wolfsburg’s two group stage matches against Chelsea to help knock the former Champions League finalists out of the group, and also scored in Wolfsburg’s semi-final victory over Barcelona. That may not have been enough to send Wolfsburg to the final, but it sent a signal that they are a team not to be messed with.
8. Svenja Huth (Wolfsburg)
Another winger from Wolfsburg, Svenja Huth, showed how exceptional she still is at 31 during the European Championship. Huth started all six games for Germany en route to the final and gained important experience in a team with many young players. For both Wolfsburg and Germany, she remains an essential name on the team sheet, aided by the fact that she is always ready to fill in where her side needs her.
7. Lauren James (Chelsea)
Lauren James had some concerns when she failed to make a single WSL start for Chelsea following her record move to her boyhood club. The striker had lit up the league for Manchester United, but her struggle with injury problems led Chelsea to take time to get her back to full fitness. The first signs this season are that it has paid off.
She already played six times as many minutes this year and started seven WSL matches. With three goals to her name, she hasn’t had such a good goalscoring season since she was 17. James plays in a way hardly anyone else in the world does with her ball-holding and pinpoint control that has to be seen to be believed. There’s no question that she has the ability to be the best in the world – something brother Reece claims she already is.
6. Delphine Cascarino (Lyon)
A player who may still be somewhat underrated, Delphine Cascarino holds the position on the right wing of Lyon, the most successful women’s football team since she was 23 when she joined the club as a 12-year-old. This means that at the age of 25 she has already won six Champions League titles.
Cascarino is not a prolific goalscorer, but instead a player who likes to create for others. She was a regular during France’s Euro 2022 campaign as they reached the semi-finals, their best ever result, and was named as part of FIFPRO’s World Best XI in 2020.
She has regularly been asked to clarify whether she is related to Tony Cascarino, which she is not.
5.Chloe Kelly (Manchester City)
The goalscorer who ended sixty years of pain, Chloe Kelly’s celebration with her shirt fluttering around her head after England’s Euro 2000 win will go down as one of women’s football’s most iconic images.
Long known for her pace and ball skills in her time at Arsenal and Everton, it was her first season at Manchester City as a 22-year-old where she showed just how good she could be, scoring ten goals and eleven assists. An ACL injury last year interrupted her development and while she hasn’t quite reached the peak of two seasons ago, there are signs she’s slowly getting back to her very best. Her ability to get the ball out of crosses into the penalty area has been a particular asset for City this season as she regularly plays alongside striker Bunny Shaw.
4. Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit)
Trinity Rodman shocked everyone when she applied for the NWSL Draft at just 18 years old and waived her eligibility for college. The daughter of basketball superstar Dennis Rodman, she was the youngest player ever drafted when the Washington Spirit selected her second.
Showing no signs of needing time to settle, Rodman helped the Spirit win their first ever NWSL championship. She scored in their semifinal against OL Reign and assisted in the final against the Chicago Red Stars. While her sophomore season wasn’t as successful with the Spirit, there was no doubt about the amount of value she brings to the team, as evidenced by Washington Spirit signing her to a new contract, making her the highest-paid player in history of NWSL. . Rodman was the youngest player nominated for the Ballon D’Or in 2022.
3. Beth Mead (Arsenal)
Beth Mead’s “revenge tour” has become legendary. Left out of the Team GB Olympic squad in 2021 due to poor form, Mead went out in tears for both Arsenal and England to prove the doubters wrong. With 11 goals and 8 assists in the WSL, she matched her highest goal contributions since she was 23 years old. It was no different for England, where she broke the record for most goal contributions in a single season for her country, with 20 goals and 17 assists in 19 games, breaking the record held by Jimmy Greaves.
There were important goals against Austria, Norway and Sweden during the European Championship, which saw her win both the Golden Boot and the Player of the Tournament award. Her performances led to her finishing second in the Ballon D’Or and the UEFA Player of the Year award, behind Alexia Putellas.
Mead unfortunately did her ACL during a match against Manchester United in the WSL in November and is now in a race against time to be fit for the World Cup.
2. Kadidiatou Diani (Paris St Germain)
When PSG and France’s top striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto took her ACL two games at the European Championship, there was a lot of pressure on Kadidiatou Diani to take control. Used by manager Corinne Diacre as a false 9, Diani had to adapt her game to help her side reach the semi-finals of the European Championship.
It was a similar position for her at club level, where PSG relied on her significantly early in the season. Diani has taken on the role with aplomb, whether he was a false 9 or used wide, he has already scored nine goals. Her season high is 13, so it looks like she will have her most prolific goalscoring season ever. She has demonstrated her dependability as a player at both club and country level, with her ability to emerge in unlikely positions being a key driver of her improving form.
1.Caroline Graham Hansen (Barcelona)
Tellingly, in Barcelona’s UWCL final loss to Lyon, their lone goal came from one of the few moments when Caroline Graham Hansen was able to get away from the attention of Lyon left-back Selma Bacha. Hansen is clearly part of an extremely talented Barcelona team, but she brings something different. A player who can be both direct and creative, she is equally adept at driving the ball to the touchline or cutting inside and unloading a shot into the top corner.
Her importance to Barcelona is only underlined by how much more meek they look without her on the side (she is currently recovering from a hamstring injury). Soft-spoken and perhaps missing out on some of the limelight as a result, Hansen is a player who can take games by the neck and demand they go their own way.
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