Public voting opens for 2026 BBC Women's Footballer of the Year with five global stars shortlisted

Global public voting opened on Tuesday for the 2026 BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year award, placing five of the game’s premier attacking talents on the ballot after a landmark twelve months across Europe, North America, and Africa. According to BBC Sport’s official announcement, supporters around the world have until 09:00 GMT on Wednesday, November 18, to cast their votes for Kansas City Current and Malawi forward Temwa Chawinga, Barcelona and Poland striker Ewa Pajor, London City Lionesses and Spain playmaker Alexia Putellas, Arsenal and England forward Alessia Russo, or Manchester City and Jamaica striker Khadija Bunny Shaw.

Selected by an expert panel of coaches, former internationals, journalists, and administrators evaluating performances across the past calendar year, the five player shortlist reflects the shifting commercial and competitive geography of elite women’s football. Four of the five contenders now ply their club trade in England’s Women’s Super League or America’s National Women’s Soccer League, while the winner will be crowned live during the BBC Sports Personality of the Year broadcast on Sunday, December 13.

First awarded to Nigeria forward Asisat Oshoala in 2015 and subsequently won by stars including Ada Hegerberg, Lucy Bronze, Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Mary Earps, and Barbra Banda, the prize remains one of the few major global football honors decided directly by supporter ballot after expert shortlisting. Every nominee on the 2026 ticket arrives backed by either historic scoring milestones or major domestic and continental silverware.

Chawinga and Shaw set relentless goalscoring benchmarks on two continents

Few forwards in world football matched the sheer week to week inevitability of Temwa Chawinga over the past year. Now 28, the Malawi international cemented her status as the dominant force in the National Women’s Soccer League with Kansas City Current by capturing consecutive NWSL Most Valuable Player and Golden Boot honors, tormenting high defensive lines with explosive transitional pace and clinical finishing off both feet.

Crucially for voters weighing international impact alongside club dominance, Chawinga carried that prolific output onto the African continental stage, claiming the Golden Boot at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations while shouldering creative and scoring duties for a Malawi side competing against deeper traditional squads. Following Zambian striker Barbra Banda’s victory in the BBC poll two years ago, Chawinga bids to continue southern Africa’s remarkable run of individual recognition in the global vote.

Matching Chawinga stride for stride in penalty box ruthlessness is Manchester City’s Khadija Bunny Shaw. At 29, the Jamaican centre forward wrote her name into English top flight history by securing a third consecutive Women’s Super League Golden Boot while firing Manchester City to an emphatic domestic WSL and Women’s FA Cup Double. Along the way, Shaw surpassed 100 career goals in Manchester City colors, combining towering aerial authority on crosses with sharp back to goal link play that unlocked stubborn low blocks throughout the title race.

European silverware for Pajor and Russo alongside Putellas’s historic transfer

European club competitions produced equally compelling cases for Ewa Pajor and Alessia Russo. Pajor, 29, delivered the defining big match performance of the continental season for Barcelona, scoring twice in a commanding 4 to 0 victory over Lyon in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final to spearhead a domestic and European quadruple in Catalonia. Long admired during her Wolfsburg years as one of Europe’s sharpest six yard box predators, the Polish captain elevated Barcelona’s penalty area efficiency precisely when elimination ties demanded ruthless conversion.

Arsenal and England striker Alessia Russo, 27, combined prolific scoring volume with historic intercontinental silverware in north London. Russo netted 24 goals across club competitions while leading Arsenal’s forward press to triumph in the inaugural FIFA Women’s Champions Cup, adding another major trophy to the European honours she has helped deliver for club and country while England’s men’s and women’s senior programs continue navigating packed international calendars.

Completing the five player ballot is 32 year old Spanish icon Alexia Putellas, whose past twelve months blended enduring technical brilliance with one of the boldest transfers in modern women’s football history. After fourteen trophy laden years at Barcelona and capturing a historic third Ballon d’Or Feminin crown, Putellas stunned the European transfer market in July 2026 by signing for ambitious Women’s Super League project London City Lionesses.

Her move to England signaled a watershed moment in private investment and competitive ambition outside traditional men’s Premier League parent clubs, and Putellas immediately brought world class tempo control, set piece precision, and final third vision to her new London surroundings while remaining central to Spain’s international dominance.

Eight days of fan voting before December’s ceremony

Because the final result rests entirely on public ballots submitted before 09:00 GMT on November 18, fan mobilization across England, Spain, Poland, the United States, Jamaica, and Malawi often proves decisive when margins tighten at the top of the count. English internationals Beth Mead and Mary Earps rode huge domestic support to consecutive wins in 2022 and 2023 before Banda’s global surge demonstrated the reach of African and NWSL audiences.

Whether voters reward Putellas’s third Ballon d’Or pedigree and trailblazing move to London City Lionesses, Pajor’s Champions League final brace for quadruple winners Barcelona, Shaw’s domestic Double and century of City goals, Russo’s 24 goal Champions Cup campaign at Arsenal, or Chawinga’s twin NWSL and WAFCON Golden Boots, the 2026 shortlist underscores the extraordinary depth at the summit of the women’s game ahead of December 13’s reveal.

How previous winners reflect the global expansion of the BBC ballot

A glance across the eleven previous editions of the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year honor underscores how dramatically the award’s competitive map has widened since Asisat Oshoala’s inaugural triumph in 2015. Early winners such as Scotland playmaker Kim Little in 2016, Norway striker Ada Hegerberg in 2017 and 2019, and England right back Lucy Bronze in 2018 and 2020 largely reflected the traditional European Champions League power centers of Lyon, Arsenal, and Manchester City.

More recent ballots have rewarded both historic international tournament peaks and breakthrough dominance in North America. Dutch forward Vivianne Miedema claimed the 2021 crown at the height of her WSL scoring spree, followed by Lionesses heroes Beth Mead in 2022 and goalkeeper Mary Earps in 2023 after England’s European Championship triumph and World Cup final run. Zambia striker Barbra Banda then shattered the European monopoly in 2024 on the strength of Olympic hat tricks and Orlando Pride stardom, proving that global digital voting empowers supporters far beyond western Europe.

Every member of the 2026 quintet brings a distinct voter constituency into the eight day window before ballots close next Wednesday morning. Chawinga and Shaw carry fervent backing across Africa, the Caribbean, and North America alongside club supporters in Kansas City and Manchester, while Pajor, Putellas, and Russo command vast European club followings across Barcelona and London. Whichever star emerges on top at the Sports Personality of the Year ceremony on December 13 will have prevailed over one of the most decorated five player fields in the award’s twelve year history.