Women's Champions League positional awards nominees announced

The nominees have been announced for the second UEFA Women's Champions League positional awards, with the winners to be revealed in Istanbul on 26 August.

Barcelona won the European title for the first time in May and provide seven of the 12 nominees, including all three forwards and two of the midfielders. Runners-up Chelsea have three shortlisted players while the other two nominees were with Paris Saint-Germain last season – though both are at new clubs now: Christiane Endler (Lyon) and Irene Paredes (Barcelona).

None of the four players who claimed the inaugural awards last year – goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi, defender Wendie Renard, midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsán and forward Pernille Harder – are shortlisted this time round, though they all finished in the top ten in the voting for their respective positions.

• UEFA Women's Player of the Year award nominees
• UEFA Women's Coach of the Year award nominees

Positional award nominees for the 2020/21 UEFA Women's Champions League

Goalkeeper: Ann-Katrin Berger (Chelsea), Christiane Endler (Paris Saint-Germain), Sandra Paños (Barcelona)

Defender: Magdalena Eriksson (Chelsea), Mapi Léon (Barcelona), Irene Paredes (Paris Saint-Germain)

Midfielder: Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona), Ji So-yun (Chelsea), Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)

Forward: Caroline Graham Hansen (Barcelona), Jenni Hermoso (Barcelona), Lieke Martens (Barcelona)

What are these awards?

They were introduced in 2019/20, following on from the similar accolades initiated for the UEFA Champions League in 2016/17 to recognise the season's best players in each position in Europe's top men's club competition.

This year's winners will be named – along with the UEFA Women's Player and Coach of the Year, UEFA Men's Player and Coach of the Year and the UEFA Champions League positional awards – during the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday 26 August. The 2020/21 UEFA Europa League Player of the Season will be announced the following day.

Player rankings (4 to 10)

Goalkeepers
4 Ellie Roebuck (Manchester City) – 8 points
5 Sarah Bouhaddi (Lyon) – 4 points
6 Katarzyna Kiedrzynek (Wolfsburg) – 3 points
7 Pauline Peyraud-Magnin (Atlético) – 1 point

Defenders
4 Ashley Lawrence (Paris Saint-Germain) – 29 points
5 Marina Hegering (Bayern München) – 24 points
6 Wendie Renard (Lyon) – 16 points
7 Marta Torrejón (Barcelona) – 9 points
8 Millie Bright (Chelsea) – 6 points
9= Laia Aleixandri (Barcelona) – 3 points
9= Lucy Bronze (Manchester City) – 3 points

Midfielders
4 Sam Mewis (Manchester City) – 14 points
5 Sara Däbritz (Paris Saint-Germain) – 12 points
6= Patri Guijarro (Barcelona) – 11 points
6= Sophie Ingle (Chelsea) – 11 points
8 Kheira Hamraoui (Barcelona) – 9 points
9 Grace Geyoro (Paris Saint-Germain) – 7 points
10 Dzsenifer Marozsán (Lyon) – 6 points

Forwards
4 Fran Kirby (Chelsea) – 34 points
5 Pernille Harder (Chelsea) – 25 points
6 Sam Kerr (Chelsea) – 21 points
7 Lauren Hemp (Manchester City) – 10 points
8 Marie-Antoinette Katoto (Paris Saint-Germain) – 6 points
9= Kadidiatou Diani (Paris Saint-Germain) – 3 points
9= Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona) – 3 points

Clubs listed those for who players took the pitch during the 2020/21 UEFA Women's Champions League (i.e. not including as unused substitute).

How the players were shortlisted

For the women’s positional awards, the shortlist of three players was selected by a jury composed of the coaches of the clubs that participated in the 2020/21 UEFA Women’s Champions League round of 16. Twenty journalists specialising in women’s football and selected by the ESM group were also part of the jury.

Coaches and journalists were requested to select a shortlist of three players by allocating respectively five points, three points and one point to each of them. The final result was based on the total number of votes cast by the coaches and the journalists. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own team.