Fun fact—only six players are representing the NWSL in the 2024 Ballon d’Or. The rest you ask? Except for Gabi Portilho from Brazilian club Corinthians, the remaining 23 nominees are predominantly from Europe, with eight hailing from the WSL. Despite the significant talent in America’s domestic setup, players from the English league continue to dominate the list. This disparity doesn’t settle in the eyes of USWNT icon Megan Rapinoe, who believes that ‘everybody wants to throw shade’ at the NWSL.

The frustration takes a doublefold after seeing that USA defender Naomi Girma is missing from the list. Yet, that didn’t stop Rapinoe from praising the NWSL stars who managed to make the cut. “I’m so happy about it because I feel like American soccer gets shaded all the time in this award in particular because our seasons are on a different thing and we don’t play the Champions League and everybody wants to throw shade at the NWSL,” said Rapinoe on the latest episode of A Touch More podcast.

Notably, the six players include the winners of the Olympic gold medal including the Chicago Red Stars duo of Alyssa Naeher and Mallory Swanson, Portland Thorns’ Sophia Smith, and Washington Spirit’s Trinity Rodman. The remaining two are Orlando Pride’s forward Barbra Banda and Houston Dash defender Tarciane who clinched a silver medal.

As far as WSL is concerned, the list sees the Manchester City trio of Yui Hasegawa, Lauren Hemp, and Khadija Shaw, Arsenal forward Mariona Caldentey, and four players of Chelsea including Lucy Bronze, Lauren James, Sjoeke Nüsken, and Mayra Ramírez. The remaining in the 30-player list were from European teams including Barcelona (6) Paris Saint-Germain (2), Bayern Munich (3), Olympique Lyonnais (3), and one each from VfL Wolfsburg and AS Roma.

Ironically, while Rapinoe claims that WSL stars are favored, not a single player from England’s top-division women’s league has ever won the award that was introduced in 2018. After Ada Hegerberg of the French Ligue won the inaugural prize, the following year saw Megan Rapinoe become the first NWSL player to have won the Golden Ball.

Later wins were taken by Barcelona duo Alexia Putellas (2021, 2022) and Aitana Bonmatí (2023). It would be interesting to see who takes this year’s award. While Rapinoe would be hoping to see an NWSL star clinch the coveted trophy, she is still not over the snub of the USWNT star!

Megan Rapinoe warns Ballon d’Or over Naomi Girma snub

“This will hopefully be the last time she is overlooked,” remarked Megan Rapinoe over the absence of Naomi Girma. Co-hosting the podcast, the USWNT icon’s fiance and WNBA icon Sue Bird also expressed her remorse over the absence of a star defender. Agreeing with the former OL Reign star, now addressed as Seattle Reign, Bird sighed and added, “Oh, what an omission.”

The “best defender ever” in the eyes of Emma Hayes, Girma was surely one of the surprising absentees in the Ballon d’Or Femenin list. The 25-year-old was remarkable throughout the Olympics campaign to clinch the gold medal. Yet, she remained out of France Football’s sight and wasn’t nominated. Regardless, Rapinoe’s fingers must be crossed to see a USWNT star win the Ballon d’Or, if not an NWSL star to the very least.