Considered the most prestigious individual award in world football, our quintet have been included on a 30-player shortlist.
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Each played a crucial role in helping City achieve our most successful season to date, with the Blues claiming the Barclays Women’s Super League title and an FA Cup double.
This news comes amid a swathe of Ballon d’Or nominations for City, with Andrée Jeglertz up for the Coach of the Year prize and Ayaka Yamashita nominated for Goalkeeper of the Year, while we’ve also been nominated for the Club of the Year award.
Kerstin Casparij
The Club’s vice-captain, Casparij has matured into a vital leader in this City side and one of its most consistent performers.
She’s rightly considered one of the most effective attacking full-backs in the WSL and finished the 2025/26 campaign with the joint-most assists alongside Aston Villa’s Lynn Wilms.
Coupled with her three goals, she became only the third defender in WSL history to hit double figures for goal involvements, firing home against Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester United.
Casparij’s exploits earned her a thoroughly deserved spot in the WSL Team of the Year for 2025/26, while she was also shortlisted for the WSL Player of the Season award.
Alex Greenwood
Greenwood, meanwhile, will forever be a part of City’s history having led us to a WSL and FA Cup double in 2025/26, but our captain was another player to enjoy a stellar individual campaign.
Whether required to play at centre-half or on the left, the defender’s composure, drive and experience were essential in helping the Blues grind out crucial victories en route to the most successful season in our history.
Already famed for her lethal delivery, Greenwood backed up that reputation with five assists from corners in the WSL – more than double that of her closest rivals – while her tally of 15 chances created from set pieces was joint-second in the entire division among defenders.
Big players step up in the key moments, and Alex’s performance in our FA Cup final triumph – including our second goal of the afternoon from a free-kick – demonstrated her status among the world’s best.
Yui Hasegawa
Hasegawa’s reputation as one of the finest midfielders in world football precedes itself.
Yui has been named in the WSL Team of the Year in all four of her seasons so far at City but also played a crucial role in helping the Blues over the line in 2025/26 to the Double.
Playing in a slightly more advanced role, the Japan international enjoyed her best season to date in terms of attacking output in 2025/26, also initiating the most open play sequences ending with a shot in the WSL across the campaign.
But Hasegawa’s impact is about far more than her balletic brilliance on the ball, exemplified by the midfielder also registering the second most interceptions in the league across our title-winning campaign.
Vivianne Miedema
Playing in a slightly deeper role brought the very best out of Miedema in 2025/26, with the Dutch international often the conductor of the City orchestra.
Only Shaw and Alessia Russo registered more goal involvements in the WSL across the campaign, while Miedema also initiated 22 open play sequences ending in a shot – the third most in the division.
A remarkably intelligent and technically excellent footballer, Miedema’s cross-field assist to Aoba Fujino in a WSL win over Aston Villa in December 2025 summed up her incredible vision on the ball.
While it was also rather fitting that she was the one to round off the scoring in our FA Cup final triumph over Brighton in her first appearance since a match-winning brace against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Bunny Shaw
Shaw enjoyed perhaps her finest individual season to date, winning the WSL Golden Boot for a record third year in a row as City claimed a domestic double.
The Jamaican notched 21 goals in 22 appearances, becoming the first player in WSL history to find the net over 20 times in three separate campaigns in the process.
Further recognition followed with Shaw being named WSL, FWA and PFA Players’ Player of the Year, as well as figuring in the WSL Team of the Year for the third time in four seasons.
In a campaign of superlatives, the forward has continued to set the goalscoring standard in the WSL and has started the new campaign with a brace in our 3-1 opening win over Birmingham City.
This is Shaw’s third inclusion on the Ballon d’Or shortlist, having also made the cut in 2023 and 2024.
The awards take place on Monday 26 October in London.
Congratulations to Kerstin, Alex, Yui, Viv and Bunny on being shortlisted for the 2026 Ballon d’Or.
