Ten women's players to watch in 2024
Monday, January 1, 2024
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We pick out ten rising female footballers to keep an eye on this year.
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We pick out ten rising female footballers to keep an eye on in 2024.
This list was selected by UEFA.com and is not intended to rival more established awards.
Aggie Beever-Jones (ENG, 20 – Chelsea)
Spotted by Chelsea aged seven, Beever-Jones has become the first of their youth products to progress all the way up the ranks. She was handed her senior debut aged 17 in January 2021 and spent seasons on loan at second-tier Bristol City and Women's Super League rivals Everton before rejoining the Blues squad this term.
"She went on loan deals as an academy player and came back as a first-team player," was Chelsea coach Emma Hayes's recent assessment of the versatile attacker, who has mainly been deployed as a substitute but has regularly found the net. May play an even more important role in the coming months following Sam Kerr's ACL injury in January,
Beever-Jones scored twice against Norway at the 2022 WU19 EURO, is now in England's Under-23 selection and is being tipped for a senior call in 2024. In her own words, to Chelsea's website: "I'm an attacker who can play anywhere in the front line and who wants to get on the ball, be creative and offer something a bit different."
Fiamma Benítez (ESP, 19 – Valencia)
The daughter of Argentinian parents, Fiamma opted to represent the country of her birth and has already racked up the honours. In the last couple of years she has helped Spain win the 2022 and 2023 WU19 EURO and the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. In 2022 she also switched from Levante to Valencia and made her senior Spain debut, in a 7-0 friendly win against Argentina.
A hard-working and skilful playmaker who can also operate deep and on the wing, Fiamma possesses a keen eye for goal, striking against Jamaica and Sweden for the senior Spain team in 2023. She is now a crucial part of Valencia's first team, and her inclusion in the Spain squad against such stiff competition is proof of her talent and potential.
Daniëlle de Jong (NED, 21 – Twente)
De Jong was, appropriately, the first player to graduate from PSV Eindhoven's Jong PSV scheme to their senior squad in 2021. But she was very much still a back-up at PSV when Twente announced in February that De Jong would join them in the summer.
Taking over from Aston Villa-bound Netherlands No1 Daphne van Domselaar, De Jong's debut was the Dutch Super Cup defeat of Ajax. She also kept a clean sheet on her UEFA Women's Champions League bow in round 1 against Sturm Graz and has been superb as Twente have surged clear in the Eredivisie.
De Jong's performances earned her a September call-up to the Netherlands senior squad. After November's away win at old club PSV, De Jong told Twente's website: "I knew there was a good chance that I would become first choice, but of course I still had to make it happen. I did my own thing during training and fully committed myself, which paid off."
Giulia Dragoni (ITA, 17 – Barcelona)
An academy product of Pro Sesto and Inter, the Nerazzurre promoted Dragoni to their Under-19 squad at the age of 14, and just after her 16th birthday in November 2022 she became the youngest player to feature in Serie A in its professional era.
Things have kept moving in 2023. In January, Barcelona signed Dragoni to become the first non-Spanish female to join their La Masia set-up, and she played a key role in their B team winning the new national second-tier league. Italy then called her into their FIFA Women's World Cup squad and, after a debut in the friendly against Morocco, she started all their games in the finals, replacing Giuseppe Bergomi as her nation's youngest player in a World Cup final tournament and capping a season she had begun in WU17 EURO qualifying.
Her senior Barcelona debut came in November, a year and six days on from her Inter Serie A bow, and in December she got her first minutes in the Champions League. Dragoni's skill, energy and vision in a wide or playmaker role, as well as her ball control, have consistently helped her hold her own against more senior company.
Noemi Ivelj (SUI, 17 – Grasshoppers)
Switzerland made a big impression at the 2023 WU17 EURO in Estonia, particularly with the 2-1 win against Germany that took them to the semi-finals and meant the eight-time champions fell in the group stage for the first time. The goalscorers in that game were midfielder Iman Beney, who received a stunning call to Switzerland's senior World Cup squad only to suffer a devastating ACL injury just before the finals, and centre-back Ivelj, nerveless converter of the winning penalty.
Already a frequent Super League starter in midfield for Grasshoppers towards the end of 2022/23, Ivelj moved straight into the senior Switzerland squad in September and was given a dream debut away to world champions Spain in the UEFA Women's Nations League. Then Switzerland coach Inka Grings praised the still-16-year-old Ivelj's defensive flexibility, and it would be no surprise to see more of her in the senior selection as the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 hosts continue to refresh ahead of staging the finals.
Rosa Kafaji (SWE, 20 – Häcken)
An AIK academy product who broke into their second-tier senior side before her 16th birthday, Kafaji quickly showed her attacking prowess by scoring 12 goals in the 2020 season to help the Solna outfit to the title and promotion. The following year, Kafaji joined the senior Sweden squad for a camp in Malta and featured regularly for AIK in the Damallsvenskan before joining Häcken.
A broken leg in her first Häcken friendly in January 2022 left her out for most of the year, but Kafaji showed no ill-effects in 2023. She was Häcken's top scorer on 12 as they only missed the Damallsvenskan title on goal difference, and Kafaji has shone in her first UEFA Women's Champions League season, scoring in both her club's opening group games as they beat Paris FC (when she was named Player of the Match) and Real Madrid.
Kafaji made her senior Sweden debut at home to Italy in the UEFA Women's Nations League, coming on after 86 minutes with her side 1-0 down only for them to snatch a dramatic draw. "This is just the beginning," Kafaji warned that night.
Franziska Kett (GER, 19 – Bayern München)
Signed by Bayern from Grün-Weiss Deggendorf in 2020 at the age of 15, Kett quickly rose up the ranks from the U17s to the reserves and then the seniors in September 2022, regularly appearing from the bench last season in the UEFA Women's Champions League as well as the Bundesliga.
Having already played for Germany at the 2022 WU19 EURO, she featured again last summer and struck an extra-time winner in the semi-final against France. Although Spain won the decider on penalties, Kett was named in the Team of the Tournament.
The energetic and pacy 19-year-old has a level head and can fill several different attacking roles but is usually deployed down the left. There is no shortage of young talent in Germany but for Kett, winner of the U19 Fritz Walter Medal in 2023, the future seems particularly bright.
Valentina Mädl (AUT, 17 – St. Pölten)
Austria are an increasingly formidable force and Mädl's emergence suggests an even brighter future may be just around the corner. A prolific goalscorer as she worked her way up the junior ranks, Mädl joined St. Pölten from Austria Wien in May 2022 and scored ten goals in her first season to help them lift the title. She also appeared nine times in the Champions League, starting against the likes of Roma and Wolfsburg in the group stage.
The 17-year-old has scored freely at international level, netting 20 goals in 13 U17 appearances and helping Austria to the 2023 WU19 EURO finals for only the second time. In Belgium last July, Mädl got the only goal in a 1-0 defeat of the Netherlands and also struck in a 3-3 draw against the hosts, a result that meant Austria finished third in their group and secured a play-off which has taken them to the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, their nation's first global female finals.
This term, Mädl has kept up the pace domestically and in the Champions League, scoring twice in a 4-0 victory at Valur in the round 2 first leg that all but confirmed their group-stage return. Her year was curtailed by a shoulder injury but Mädl is targeting a comeback for St. Pölten's crucial last two Champions League group games in January.
Louna Ribadeira (FRA, 19 – Paris FC)
PFC academy product Ribadeira first broke into her club's senior team at the start of 2021/22. She helped France to the WU19 EURO semi-finals at the end of that season, but it was 2023 when the forward really started to shine.
Her goals had already helped France to another WU19 EURO and in Belgium she excelled, ending as top scorer on four. She struck twice against Germany in an epic semi-final loss, a defeat that did not stop her being named Player of the Tournament.
The momentum continued as Ribadeira made her Champions League debut against Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih in the round 1 semi-finals, before coming off the bench to convert the winning final shoot-out penalty against Arsenal three days later. Ribadeira also played in both legs of the round 2 elimination of Wolfsburg and has also made her group bow, while starting to score regularly in the French league. Her direct running and clinical finishing make Ribadeira a threat to any defence.
Maša Tomašević (MNE, 16 – Budućnost)
Tomašević has been in Budućnost's first team since she was 14 – and no wonder, considering her goalscoring record. After ending 2021/22 with four, last season she hit 28 in 20 games, the second highest in the Montenegrin top division, while also helping her club win the youth title. She has continued to score at a similar, if not higher, rate this term.
For her country, she scored nine goals in a three-game WU17 EURO round 2 mini-tournament last March, and the following month, still aged 15, she made her senior Montenegro debut in a friendly against North Macedonia, later coming off the bench four times in the UEFA Women's Nations League.
PREVIOUS LISTS
2023
Mara Alber
Nicole Arcangeli
Serina Backmark
Esmee Brugts
Laurina Fazer
Signe Gaupset
Vicky López
Nina Matejić
Ana Milović
Katie Robinson
2022
Jule Brand
Naomie Feller
Maja Jelčić
Romée Leuchter
Maya Le Tissier
Misa Rodríguez
Emma Snerle
Elisabeth Terland
Jarne Teulings
Katja Wienerroither
2021
Vicky Becho
Julie Blakstad
Haley Bugeja
Lene Christensen
Svenja Fölmli
Paulina Krumbiegel
Lauren James
Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir
Eva Navarro
Lena Oberdorf
2020
Laia Aleixandri
Hanna Bennison
Emilie Bragstad
Lauren Hemp
Sophia Kleinherne
Anna Koivunen
Melvine Malard
Jamie-Lee Napier
Sofie Svava
Nikita Tromp