FIFA Ballon d'Or 2013 women's finalists - Marta da Silva, Abby Wambach and Nadine Angerer

The three finalists – (L to R) Marta, Abby and Nadine.

As everyone knows, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery are the 3 nominees for the coveted Ballon d’Or in the men’s category. Let’s take a look at the women who have made it to the shortlist and why they are there.

FIFA had announced the names of the top ten women’s footballers for the Ballon d’Or (FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year 2013), here are the names of footballers who made the cut: Nadine Angerer (Germany), Nilla Fischer (Sweden), Lena Goessling (Germany), Saki Kumagai (Japan), Marta (Brazil), Alex Morgan (USA), Yuki Ogimi (Japan), Lotta Schelin (Sweden), Christine Sinclair (Canada), Abby Wambach (USA).

In early December, FIFA and France Football announced the names of the three women, who had received the most votes (without unveiling the winners). The final 3 nominees are:

Nadine Angerer (Germany), Marta (Brazil) and Abby Wambach (USA).

Nadine Angerer

Nadine is a German professional football goalkeeper currently playing for the Brisbane Roar in Australia’s W-League and captains the German national team. The 35-year old has 127 national caps to her name along with numerous individual and international honours. Her laurels include Best Goalkeeper, 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup, UEFA Best Women’s Player in Europe. During the entire World Cup 2007, she did not concede a single goal, setting the record for most consecutive minutes played without conceding a goal in World Cup play to 540 minutes.

She’s also a three time World Cup winner, a 5 time UEFA European Football Championship and 3 time Olympic Bronze medalist with Germany. Along with that she’s also won the UEFA Women’s Cup once, twice the Bundesliga and three times the German Cup with her previous club Turbine Potsdam. Not only that, she’s also a German Cup winner with her last club FFC Frankfurt

Marta Vieira da Silva

Marta is a Brazilian football forward who plays for the club Tyresö FF of Damallsvenskan. She is also a member of the Brazil women’s national football team. The 27-year old has won the FIFA World Player of the Year five consecutive times, along with finishing runner-up on 3 occasions. She’s also won the FIFA Women’s World Cup Golden Ball and Golden Shoe in the 2007 edition. She also tops the all–time Women’s World Cup goalscorer list alongside Birgit Prinz.

Marta was also part of the Brazil national team that won silver medal in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. After winning the Pan America Games, in front of a 68,000 crowd at the famous Estádio do Maracanã, where she was compared by the Brazilian fans, with Brazilian great Pelé, being called “Pelé with skirts.” Even Pelé himself agreed with the comparison. Afterwards, the imprint of her feet was recorded in cement at the stadium, making her the first woman to be so honored. She has till date scored 142 goals in 152 matches for club and country.

Abby Wambach

Mary Abigail “Abby” Wambach is an American professional soccer player, coach, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and the 2012 FIFA World Player of the Year, becoming the 1st American to win the award in 10 years. She currently plays for Western New York Flash in the National Women’s Soccer League and for the United States women’s national soccer team. The 33-year old is a six-time winner of the U. S. Soccer athlete of the year.

As a forward, she currently stands as the highest all-time goal scorer for the national team and holds the world record for international goals for both female and male soccer players with 163 goals in 212 international games. She was awarded the Bronze Boot and Silver Ball at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011 while also being awarded the 2011 ESPY Award for Best Play for her 122nd-minute equalizing goal against Brazil during the quarterfinal.

The same year, she was named the Women’s Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year and received the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, the first individual soccer player ever – man or woman – to receive the award.