McCabe and Ilestedt on Ballon d'Or shortlist

Two of our players have made the shortlist for the 2023 Women’s Ballon d’Or, with Katie McCabe and Amanda Ilestedt nominated for the prestigious prize.

The duo will hope to taste similar success to Beth Mead last season, who finished runner-up in the standings following the votes from a panel of 100 journalists from FIFA's 100 top-ranked member nations in women's football.

This time around, our two Gunners are part of a 30-player shortlist up for the coveted prize, which has been awarded since 2018.

Katie’s performances during 2022/23 saw her crowned our Player of the Season, as well as net the WSL Goal of the Season for her excellent effort against Manchester City. She played 21 times in our league campaign, and made a further 12 more appearances in our run to the semi-finals of the Champions League, with her displays in that tournament seeing her selected in the UEFA Team of the Season. She also lifted the Continental Tyres League Cup during a successful season at club level.

Following that, she went on to captain the Republic of Ireland at the 2023 World Cup, scoring her nation’s first ever goal in the competition against Canada. She featured three times at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

Summer recruit Amanda was one of the stars of that competition, as she scored four times including the winner against South Africa in Sweden’s opening match, before securing a brace against Italy and adding another against Japan in the quarter-finals to help her side to an eventual third-place finish. She was awarded the Bronze Ball at the conclusion as she was deemed to be the third-best player in the competition.

The centre-back spent last season at PSG whom she helped to a second-place finish in the league, finish runners-up in the French Cup, and embark on a run to the last eight of the Champions League.

The winner will be announced at the ceremony in Paris on Monday, October 30.

Full list of nominees

Khadija Shaw (Man City)

Mapi Leon (Barcelona)

Mary Earps (Man United)

Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona)

Wendie Renard (Lyon)

Katie McCabe (Arsenal)

Jill Roord (Wolfsburg and Man City)

Yui Hasegawa (Man City)

Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg)

Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona)

Debinha (Kansas City)

Sam Kerr (Chelsea)

Guro Reiten (Chelsea)

Ewa Pajor (Wolfsburg)

Patricia Guijarro (Barcelona)

Daphne Van Domselaar (Twente and Aston Villa)

Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg)

Hinata Miyazawa (MyNavi Sendai and Man United)

Millie Bright (Chelsea)

Salma Paralluelo (Barcelona)

Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns)

Hayley Raso (Man City and Real Madrid)

Amanda Ilestedt (PSG and Arsenal)

Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich)

Olga Ramona (Real Madrid)

Fridolina Rolfo (Barcelona)

Rachel Daly (Aston Villa)

Alba Redondo (Levante)

Linda Caicedo (Real Madrid)

Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon)