In the United States of America, the women’s national football team has always outshone the men’s side when it comes to success on the global stage.
The USWNT is the most successful team in the history of international women’s soccer, having won four FIFA Women’s World Cup titles in 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019, four Olympic gold medals, and nine CONCACAF Gold Cups.
They are also the only national team to have won a medal at every single Women’s World Cup from 1991 through to 2019, a record of consistency that no other nation in women’s football has come close to matching.
With World Cup qualifying on the horizon in 2027 and a new generation of players now leading the programme under coach Emma Hayes, the USWNT is entering an exciting new era.
Here are the top 10 best US women’s soccer players in 2026, ranked from 10 to 1, covering the players who are currently making the biggest impact for club and country.
10. Ashley Sanchez
Ashley Sanchez does not always get the attention she deserves, but her 2026 NWSL season has made her impossible to ignore.
The North Carolina Courage midfielder scored 9 goals in the 2026 NWSL season to sit second in the league’s scoring charts behind Barbra Banda, earning the NWSL Player of the Month award for April 2026 and NWSL Player of the Week in Week 1.
She was named to the NWSL Team of the Month for both March and April 2026, evidence of the consistency she has brought to the Courage’s midfield throughout the season.
Sanchez is a top female football midfielder who combines intelligent movement, pressing intensity, and a real eye for goal — qualities that make her extremely difficult to mark and even more difficult to contain.
Emma Hayes has consistently called her into the USWNT squad and her current form at club level makes a compelling case for greater international responsibility as qualifying approaches.
9. Sam Coffey
Sam Coffey made a bold move in January 2026 when she transferred from the Portland Thorns to Manchester City, and within months, she had a Women’s Super League title to show for it.
The holding midfielder worked her way into the City starting lineup after arriving mid-season, playing a full 90 minutes in the dramatic 1-0 win over Liverpool on May 3 that put City on the brink of the WSL championship — their first league title in more than a decade, ending Chelsea’s six-year stranglehold on the competition.
Coffey has 44 caps and 5 international goals for the USWNT, and she is the best defensive midfielder in the American player pool right now.
She screens the backline, wins the ball cleanly, and distributes with a precision and calmness that allows the more attacking players around her to operate with freedom.
Playing in the best women’s football league in Europe is only going to make her better, and her first season in England has already delivered the biggest club honour of her career.
8. Lily Yohannes
Lily Yohannes is only 18 years old and is already playing for OL Lyon, one of the most dominant women’s football clubs in European history.
She was named the 2025/26 UEFA Women’s Champions League Young Player of the Season, which UEFA confirmed when Lyon reached the Champions League final — becoming the youngest American player ever to receive that award at senior club level.
Yohannes has 16 caps and 1 goal for the USWNT and is already being discussed in the same breath as the most exciting young American footballers in history.
She is a creative and dynamic attacking midfielder with a maturity on the ball that defies her age, a fearlessness in big moments, and a technical quality that has allowed her to thrive at one of the most demanding clubs in world football.
The USWNT’s future is in extraordinary hands with Yohannes at the heart of it, and she is the most exciting emerging player in the entire American programme right now.
7. Alyssa Thompson
Alyssa Thompson was drafted first overall by Angel City FC in 2023 at the age of 17, making her the most expensive player in NWSL Draft history at that time, and she has been making good on that valuation ever since.
She transferred to Chelsea in England in September 2025 for a record fee, becoming one of the first American forwards to make such a move at such a young age, and has 29 caps and 4 goals for the USWNT as of 2026.
At Chelsea she has shown flashes of the pace, directness, and finishing ability that made her a target for one of the top clubs in the Women’s Super League, and while her first season in England has had its ups and downs, the ceiling for a player of her ability is extraordinarily high.
She was described by Goal.com as the player with one of the clearest paths to becoming the best US women’s soccer player in the world in the coming years.
She is one of the most exciting young female soccer players in the world right now, and she is only just getting started.
6. Emily Fox
Emily Fox is the best fullback in the United States women’s national team and one of the best female football defenders in the world right now.
She has 74 caps and 1 goal for the USWNT and has been one of Arsenal’s most important players throughout the 2025/26 season, making 18 WSL starts and contributing 2 goals and 4 assists across all competitions.
Fox was named to the UEFA Women’s Champions League Team of the Season in 2025/26 following Arsenal’s run to the semi-finals of the competition, where they were eliminated by eventual champions Barcelona.
She is relentless as an attacking fullback, covering enormous ground up and down the flank, arriving late into the box to create and convert, and defensively she is as reliable and composed as any American defender in the modern era.
Goal.com ranked Fox as the top American player abroad this season, describing her as someone who set the standard for USWNT players in Europe throughout the 2025/26 campaign.
Playing in one of the best women’s football leagues in the world consistently elevates her game, and she has embraced the challenge at Arsenal with enormous credit.
5. Sophia Wilson
Sophia Wilson returned from maternity leave in March 2026 and within weeks was back to the kind of form that made her the dominant American forward of her generation.
She scored her 50th career NWSL regular season goal on July 6, 2026, becoming just the ninth player in league history to reach that milestone and the third to do so before playing 100 regular season games.
Wilson has 58 caps and 24 goals for the USWNT — she was part of the “Triple Espresso” attacking line with Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson that drove the USA to Olympic gold in Paris 2024, scoring three goals at the Games.
She won the 2022 NWSL MVP and Championship MVP in the same season, became the youngest player in league history to win the MVP award at 22 years old, and is the only player to have won both those awards in the same season.
As one of the most clinical female soccer players in the world, her return to full fitness in 2026 is one of the most important things to happen to both the Portland Thorns and the USWNT this year.
4. Lindsey Heaps
Lindsey Heaps is the captain of the United States Women’s National Team and the most experienced player in the American programme with 173 caps and 39 international goals.
She spent the 2025/26 season at OL Lyon, one of the most storied clubs in European women’s football, where she was part of a squad that won the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue before losing 4-0 to Barcelona in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final in Oslo.
Despite the heartbreak of that final defeat, Heaps confirmed before the tournament ended that she would be joining NWSL expansion side Denver Summit for the second half of the 2026 season, returning home to Colorado where she grew up — 15 miles from Denver’s temporary home at Empower Field at Mile High.
She is a serial winner who has done everything in the game at the highest level, and her experience and leadership quality make her the USWNT’s most important player off the ball as much as on it.
As one of the greatest female football midfielders of her generation, wearing the captain’s armband for the most successful women’s national team in history is a fitting testament to her career.
3. Rose Lavelle
Rose Lavelle is the 2025 US Soccer Female Player of the Year, the 2025 NWSL Championship MVP, and the first player in history to score a goal in two different NWSL Championship finals and a FIFA Women’s World Cup final.
That last achievement alone tells you everything about who she is: a player who shows up when it matters most and delivers on the biggest stages in world football.
She scored the only goal in Gotham FC’s 1-0 Championship win over the Washington Spirit in 2025, a 79th-minute left-footed finish that was the latest regulation game-winner ever scored in an NWSL Championship.
She has 118 caps and 27 goals for the USWNT, she was awarded the Bronze Ball at the 2019 Women’s World Cup as the tournament’s third-best player, and she scored the sealing goal in the final against the Netherlands in Lyon.
In 2026, with Gotham FC defending their NWSL Championship, Lavelle scored the go-ahead goal in their opening match to begin the title defence and was named NWSL Player of the Week in Week 13 of the season.
She is one of the greatest female football midfielders of all time and one of the greatest US women’s soccer players in history.
2. Trinity Rodman
Trinity Rodman is the highest-paid women’s soccer player in the world and in January 2026 signed a three-year contract with the Washington Spirit worth more than $2 million per year — a landmark deal made possible by a new NWSL High Impact Player Rule created specifically to keep her in the league.
She is the daughter of NBA legend Dennis Rodman, but she stopped needing that introduction years ago.
In 2026, she became the youngest player in NWSL history to reach 100 regular season appearances, achieving the milestone in the Spirit’s 1-1 draw with the Utah Royals on March 26, 2026, at just 23 years old.
She has career statistics of 36 goals and 23 assists in her first five regular seasons with the Spirit, and in the 2026 NWSL season she has scored 6 goals and added 4 assists in 13 appearances, placing her among the league’s top scorers.
She was named NWSL Player of the Week three times in 2026, most recently on July 8 after scoring twice — including a stoppage-time winner from outside the box with her left foot — in a 2-1 win over the Houston Dash.
She has 52 caps and 13 international goals for the USWNT, is an Olympic gold medallist from Paris 2024, and is one of the most electrifying female soccer players in the world right now.
Her combination of pace, technical ability, and match-winning mentality makes her the most exciting player wearing a USWNT shirt today, which is the only reason she sits at number two and not number one.
1. Naomi Girma
Naomi Girma is the best American women’s soccer player in the world in 2026 and one of the best female football defenders on the planet regardless of nationality.
She transferred to Chelsea in September 2025 for a world-record fee for a female defender, arriving in England as the most talked-about defensive player in the women’s game.
She has 52 caps and 2 international goals for the USWNT and has appeared 10 times in the Women’s Super League and 4 times in the UEFA Women’s Champions League in 2025/26, maintaining a 91.9% passing completion rate at the highest level of European club football.
She was named to the 2025/26 UEFA Women’s Champions League Team of the Season alongside teammate Emily Fox, recognising the two Americans as among the best in their positions across the entire European competition.
What makes Girma exceptional is not just her athleticism — it is the tactical intelligence, positioning, and composure she brings to every game.
She was selected No. 1 overall in the 2022 NWSL Draft by San Diego Wave, won the NWSL Defender of the Year and Rookie of the Year in her debut season, and was named the 2023 USSF Female Athlete of the Year.
Goal.com’s analysis of her at Chelsea highlighted that “she rarely misses a pass out of the backline and often does full-field sprints to track down the world’s fastest forwards and come away with the ball” — the definition of a world-class defender.
She is 26 years old, in the prime of her career, and performing at a level that makes her not just the best American women’s soccer player in 2026 but one of the most compelling players in the entire global women’s game.
Honourable Mentions:
- Mallory Swanson (Chicago Stars) — returning from maternity leave in 2026, former key part of the “Triple Espresso” with Wilson and Rodman
- Tierna Davidson (Gotham FC) — returned from ACL injury in 2026 with 70 caps, a vital leader in the USWNT backline
- Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns) — 5 NWSL assists in 2026, one of the league’s most creative players, 15 caps for the USWNT
- Jaedyn Shaw (Gotham FC) — 34 caps, 10 international goals, one of the fastest rising players in the USWNT pool
- Ally Sentnor (Kansas City Current) — 18 caps, 7 international goals, electrifying forward with enormous potential
You might also enjoy reading about the highest-paid women’s soccer players and the best female soccer players in the world right now. Or you can also check out our list of the best women’s soccer players of all time and the top women’s national soccer teams in the world.
Which US women’s soccer player do you think is the best right now? Let us know in the comments below!
