England star Lucy Bronze is on the five-name shortlist for the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year award.
Widely regarded as the best right-back in the women’s game, England star Bronze is shortlisted after a stellar year during which she won the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year award.
Bronze, a crucial member of the Lionesses team which finished fourth in last year’s World Cup, also helped her club Lyon win the Champions League, French league and French cup treble.
The 28-year-old came second in the women’s Ballon d’Or voting and third in the Best FIFA Women’s Player poll – both of which were won by USA World Cup winner and Reign FC star Megan Rapinoe, who is also shortlisted for the BBC gong.
Rapinoe’s USA teammate and fellow World Cup winner Julie Ertz, of Chicago Red Stars, is also in contention for the award having won US Soccer’s Female Player of the Year prize.
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The remaining two players on the shortlist are both based in England’s Women’s Super League – Chelsea’s Australian star Sam Kerr and Arsenal ace Vivianne Miedema, who helped her side to the WSL title and reached the World Cup final with the Netherlands.
Now in its sixth year, the award from the BBC World Service celebrates the best in women’s football around the world.
The shortlist is selected by a panel of experts from all around the world, including coaches, players, administrators and journalists, and the winner is then decided in a public vote.
Bronze, who won the BBC award in 2018 said: “All the awards are quite different. This one is predominantly fans and that’s nice, it’s the people who support the women’s game and watch every single week, and when they vote for you it feels nice to have that support, especially being a defender.”
(Image: EMPICS Sport)
Reflecting on 2019, she added: “Winning the Champions League final was special, I was happy with how I performed, the team performed, it’s the marquee game so that was a huge highlight.
“The World Cup I was so disappointed to lose the semi-final against USA but the whole image of the England team has changed in this last year.
“The attention, the support was unbelievable for the team and the recognition we’re now getting is really special.”
Ertz said: “The World Cup was an amazing moment for me. The welcome home parade was a lot of people, I didn’t realise how much it was on the news, people were saying congratulations everywhere we were going which was a lot to take in.”
(Image: FIFA via Getty)
Kerr added: “Obviously last year was a rollercoaster with the World Cup (losing in the last 16) with Australia, playing for Chicago in the NWSL final (in the US) and losing the final.
“But any time you represent your country in the World Cup, it’s an amazing feeling and an amazing honour.
“Obviously it didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but it was a huge learning curve and we gained fans that had never watched women’s football before.”
Miedema said of her year: “I’m really happy that we won the title with Arsenal and then in the end playing a World Cup final that no one expected I think is something amazing that you probably only experience once in your life. I’m really proud of the season we all had.”
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Rapinoe said: “Standing on the podium and lifting the World Cup trophy as joint captain – it’s the iconic moment that you dream of.
“In sport you want to win everything but we’ve been able to have this impact off the field changing people’s lives to get the respect and credit that it’s due and to be at the forefront of that is insane.”
The 2019 award was won by Norwegian footballer Ada Hegerberg who plays for Lyon and also won the award in 2017.
Arsenal’s Kim Little was the 2016 winner, while Nigerian ace Asisat Oshoala, who now plays for Barcelona Femení, won the inaugural award in 2015.
(Image: SIPA USA/PA Images)
Voting is open now and will close on Monday, March 2 at 9am GMT.
The winner will be revealed on Tuesday, March 24 at 7am GMT on BBC World Service (radio), BBC World News (TV), online at bbc.com/womensfootball and on BBC social media channels.
