Nigerian Icons Akide and Oparanozie Join Global Panel to Select World’s Top 100 Women Footballers

Two Nigerian football legends, Mercy Akide and Desire Oparanozie, have been selected to help choose the Best 100 Female Footballers in the World for 2025. The Guardian’s annual list highlights the top performers from the past year, including stars from Euro 2025, Copa América and WAFCON.

Akide and Oparanozie join a star-studded global panel made up of top coaches, former players and respected journalists. Akide, a three-time Afcon champion and Africa’s first Women’s Footballer of the Year, brings decades of experience as a pioneer and a coach in the United States. Oparanozie, a four-time WAFCON winner and former Super Falcons captain, offers insight from a career that included three World Cups and the Golden Boot at the 2014 tournament.

They will work alongside big names such as Jonatan Giráldez, Joe Montemurro and Champions League-winning coach Renée Slegers, as well as former stars like Lieke Martens, Sam Mewis and Mana Iwabuchi. Nigerian journalists Samuel Ahmadu and Osasu-Obayiuwana are also among the voters.

The countdown begins 1 December, starting with positions 100–71. More names follow over the next two days, before the top 10 are revealed on 4 December, in what promises to be a comprehensive and globally representative ranking.