Football is a sport that has been dominated by men for decades, but women’s football has been gaining popularity now.
The game has seen a surge in talented female players who have taken the sport to new heights with their skills, agility, and athleticism.
Among these players are some of the best female football strikers in the world, who have established themselves as some of the most prolific and dominant players in the game.
Hardly is there a difference between strikers in female football and male football in terms of function.
There might be differences in style of play and peculiarities from one set of strikers to the other, but one big objective all of them have is to put the ball in the back of the net.
In recent years, the role of a striker has been expanded to include providing assists to teammates while also helping the team in some defensive duties.
Scoring goals is relatively easy in women’s football compared to men’s football due to the quality of play and defending available in female football.
Nevertheless, even though goals are often scored by strikers, there are some female strikers who stand out compared to the rest of their peers.
In this article, as the whole world prepares for the 2022 FIFA women’s World Cup, we’ll take a look at the top 10 female strikers in football in 2023.
11. Bia Zaneratto
Bia Zaneratto João is among the top-rated female soccer strikers globally, renowned for her impressive scoring abilities.
Although she plays outside Europe for Palmeiras, the Brasileirão Feminino is still one of the best women’s football leagues.
During the 2022/23 season, she excelled at both club and international levels, playing a pivotal role in Brazil’s Copa America Femenina triumph.
Additionally, she contributed to her club side Palmeiras’ victory against Boca Juniors, scoring a goal in their 4-1 win to clinch the CONMEBOL Libertadores Femenina title.
10. Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave)
At age 33, it’s made look like the quartering is dropping on the career of Alex Morgan, the US women’s national team striker who debuted for the national team in 2010 and has stamped her authority as one of the best strikers to have played the game.
She has won two World Cups, an Olympic gold medal with the US, and even went on a maternity break in 2019 to give birth to her first child.
Nevertheless, she has come back stronger with Orlando Pride and San Diego Waves whom she scored sixteen goals in nineteen matches.
She will play a huge role if the USWNT are to retain the title they won in France, having recorded 119 goals in 200 games for the national team.
Alex Morgan has a natural talent for finding the back of the net. She has excellent positioning, great timing, and can finish with either foot, making her a formidable striker.
She is also one of the highest paid women’s soccer players in the world and one of the best women’s soccer players of all time.
9. Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg)
For a player that has never featured in a European Women’s Championship, Alexander Popp remains one of the greatest female strikers in football.
Popp grew in profile since the 2010 FIFA under-20 women’s World Cup, where she helped the German side to a victory over Nigeria in the final.
The striker is also very versatile and can play anywhere in front, including the midfield.
Popp finally had the time to feature at the Euro Women’s Championship in 2022, scoring in every single match played as Germany went to the final, where they lost to England.
Perhaps her absence in the final after getting injured in the semifinal victory against France contributed to Germany’s painful loss to England.
Popp is unique in female football as a striker that is identified for her physical ability and her strength in the air which makes her a difficult player to defend against opposing players.
8. Marie-Antoinette Katoto (PSG)
France’s blessing in having Marie-Antoinette Katoto turned into a curse at the UEFA Women’s Euro Championship in 2022 after the Paris Saint-Germain forward was injured during the tournament.
Katoto is a very clinical forward who is known for her pace and strength. Last season in the French women’s league, she had 18 goals and four assists in 21 games.
In February last year, she became the record goal scorer for the Paris Saint-Germain team at the age of just 23 years old.
Kato’s speed and agility on the pitch make her a significant threat to any opposing team’s defense. She can quickly accelerate and change direction, making it challenging for defenders to keep up with her.
7. Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC)
Sophia Smith is growing into a repetition of one of the best strikers in female football.
The 22-year-old has been impressing female football enthusiasts since becoming a pro in 2020.
She was named NWSL MV in 2022 and won the MVP of the NWSL Championship final after scoring the first goal of the game.
15 goals in 20 NWSL games for Portland Thorns make the USA a team to fear at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Despite her relatively young age, Smith is gradually establishing herself as one of the most lethal strikers in women’s soccer.
With time, she should join the list of the best US women’s soccer players.
6. Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal)
Vivianne Miedema is a 26-year-old Netherlands striker with a lot of records to her name.
Miedema, before joining Arsenal, played for Bayern Munich and Heerenveen in the German Women’s League and Netherlands Women’s League respectively.
She holds the highest goal scorer record in the FA women’s Super League, the top flight of women’s football in England, and also has more goals than any player for both men’s and women’s Dutch national teams.
The former Euro women’s champions have scored four goals in eight matches in the WSL for Arsenal this season.
She already has scored 7 goals in 15 matches in all competitions at the time of this writing.
Her technical ability is also highly regarded. She has excellent ball control, dribbling skills, and can execute a range of moves to get past defenders.
5. Beth Mead (Arsenal)
Beth Mead was the big star of the UEFA Women’s Euros Championship that happened in England in 2022 as she emerged as the joint-top scorer with six goals alongside Germany’s Alexander Popp.
Mead also emerged as the player of the tournament as England won the title for the first time.
The Arsenal forward had it coming in previous years, and the 27-year-old has scored three goals and four assists in seven WSL matches this season.
Mead is known for her relentless work ethic on and off the field. She is committed to improving her skills and staying in top physical condition, which allows her to maintain her high level of performance.
She has shown that she has a penchant for scoring goals. In fact, in 2015, Mead won the WSL Golden Boot and the WSL Player of the Year award, thereby becoming the youngest WSL Golden Boot winner aged 20.
4. Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona)
Nigerian women’s footballer Asisat Oshoala is the best women footballer from Africa and one of the best in the world. She grew into prominence with the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in 2014 in Canada.
Since then, she has gone on to break records playing for women’s Super League sides Arsenal Liverpool and now Barcelona. Oshoala has won the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Last season she scored 20 goals in 19 Spanish women’s La Liga games and for UEFA women’s Champions League goals in five games.
This season she already has 4 goals in 5 games in the Women’s Champions League and 18 goals in 18 in La Liga feminine matches, which includes an astonishing three hattricks in the last four games.
Oshoala is known for her lightning-fast pace, which allows her to outrun defenders and create scoring opportunities for herself and her teammates.
3. Ewa Pajor (Wolfsburg)
Ewa Pojor is one of the underrated quality strikers in women’s football, the 27-year-old has been with Wolfsburg since 2015, but injuries and lack of fitness have deprived her of her flowers.
Pajor’s goal-to-game ratio is immense at around 1.4 goals per game, and she currently leads the UEFA Women’s Champions League scorers chart.
She could be influential if Wolfsburg is to return to the UEFA Women’s Champions League final in the 2019/2020 season.
2. Ada Hegerberg (Lyon)
Even though Ada Hegerberg took five years out from international football, the Norwegian striker remains one of the best players in female football and not only in the strike position.
She is the first female recipient of the Ballon d’Or award and currently holds the record for the most goals scored in a single UEFA women’s Champions League season and is the current record goal scorer in the UEFA women’s Champions League.
Ada Hegerberg has a natural talent for scoring goals and has been a consistent scorer throughout her career, both at the club and international level.
She is expected to light up the FIFA women’s World Cup in 2023, even though she’s nursing an injury that has kept her out of the start of the current season.
1. Sam Kerr (Chelsea)
Sam Kerr is one of the most exceptional women’s football strikers in the game, the Australian forward holds a lot of records in her wake thanks to her brilliance on the pitch of play.
She is considered to be one of the best female soccer players in the world right now.
Kerr is the all-time leading Australian international scorer and the all-time leading scorer in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the United States.
Her brilliance and success have not been limited to Australia as she remains the only female footballer to have won the Golden Boot in three different leagues on three different continents the W-League (Australia/New Zealand), the NWSL (North America), and the FAWSL (Europe).
Kerr possesses excellent ball control and dribbling skills, which allow her to weave through defenses and create scoring chances, making her the best female striker in football.
