The Women’s Super League (WSL) was established in 2010, replacing the FA Women’s Premier League National Division, which ran from 1991-2010 as the top flight of women’s football in England, before operating as part of the league’s second division and then folding completely in 2013.

Initially, there were only eight clubs, though fast-forward to today, and there are now 12, with the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur all having entered the league over the last decade. Since it’s inception, the WSL has gone on to produce a plethora of footballing talent, from defenders who had seasons in which they conceded just single-digit goals, to goalscoring midfielders and some of the best forwards in world football.

As such, GIVEMESPORT has compiled a list of the WSL’s greatest ever players, and has ranked them in order based on the following factors:

Ranking factors

• Major trophies won
• Statistical data – appearances, goals, assists, etc.
• Legacy on the women’s game

15

Mary Earps

WSL clubs played for: Manchester United

Indeed, Mary “Queen of Stops” Earps always had an eccentric blunder or two up her sleeves, while she has done her reputation very little good since launching several unnecessary attacks towards her England manager, Sarina Wiegman, and successor, Hannah Hampton. But that shouldn’t take much away from the fact she holds the record for most clean sheets in WSL history with 56.

She transformed the perception of goalkeepers during her time with Manchester United, but can’t rank any higher for afoementioned reasons, alongside the fact she never won a league title during her career.

14

Fara Williams

WSL clubs played for: Chelsea, Charlton Athletic, Everton, Liverpool, Arsenal, Reading

While Fara Williams made 246 appearances in her two-decades-long club career, only 144 of those came in the WSL, in which she scored 42 goals, with her having been playing long before the WSL was established in place of the FA Women’s Premier League. Her move to Liverpool in 2012 was where she found league success, being part of the squad that won back-to-back WSL titles in 2013 and 2014, scoring nine goals in 35 appearances.

Making the switch to Arsenal in 2016 saw her spend a season in north London, where she won her second FA Cup, which would be the last domestic honour of her career, moving to Reading in 2017, where she scored 25 goals in 67 appearances before retiring at the age of 37.

13

Ellen White

WSL clubs played for: Chelsea, Arsenal, Birmingham City, Manchester City

Ellen White has been named England’s International Player of the Year three times, in 2011, 2018 and 2021. With the Lionesses, she remains the all-time top goalscorer, and while most of her plaudits are with her nation, that’s not to say she didn’t have the same effect on the WSL, too.

She won the competition twice with Arsenal towards the formative years of her career, and was a reliable goalscoring presence everywhere she went, scoring 61 times across 143 appearances.

12

Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw

WSL clubs played for: Manchester City

Despite only joining the WSL in 2021, when she joined Manchester City from French club Bordeaux, Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw has transcended the modern era of the WSL with her frightening goalscoring form since she burst onto the scene for the Cityzens.

Having made just 92 WSL appearances so far, the Jamaican international has already recorded 81 goals and 18 assists, earning the honour of being the WSL’s top goalscorer in the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons as she uses her superior physicality to overpower her opponents.

11

Jordan Nobbs

WSL clubs played for: Arsenal, Aston Villa

Jordan Nobbs played in every single season of the WSL since it’s inaugural season in 2010, when she was 18-years-old, up until she left for Newcastle United in 2025. Having swapped her childhood club Sunderland for Arsenal, she spent 12 years with the Gunners, winning 12 trophies, including three WSL titles, before making the switch to Aston Villa in the summer of 2023.

In her 17-year career, which has been unfortunately mired by a plethora of serious injuries, she has still managed to score 58 goals across her 198 league appearances, and is the highest-scoring midfielder in WSL history. Nobbs has also made 71 appearances for the Lionesses and was part of the squad that reached the 2023 World Cup final.

10

Beth England

WSL clubs played for: Doncaster, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham

With 84 goals in 167 WSL matches, Beth England ranks as the competition’s second-highest goalscorer of all time. The striker was Chelsea’s top scorer in both the 2018/19 and 2019/20 campaigns, with her goals in the latter instrumental in firing the Blues to the WSL title.

She would go on to win league gold a further three times with the Blues, but recent success has been few and far between, meaning the 31-year-old’s constant stream of goals are not being supported by those around her at Tottenham as they reached the 2024 FA Cup final.

9

Steph Houghton

WSL clubs played for: Arsenal, Manchester City

Hanging up her boots for good at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, Steph Houghton completed her legacy as one of the greatest defenders in WSL history. With the WSL beginning in 2010, she was then at Arsenal, but it was her 10-year spell with Man City which began in 2014, that she is most remembered for.

Leading from the back in the heart of the City defence, Houghton wasn’t just a prolific defender, but also a free-kick specialist, and under her leadership as captain, City won their first WSL title in 2016, with the backline conceding just four goals in the entire league campaign. She finished her career having won three WSL titles, five women’s FA Cups, and seven Continental Cups.

8

Ji So-Yun

WSL clubs played for: Chelsea

Ji So-Yun was integral to Chelsea’s insurmountable success between 2014 and 2022, in which her 68 goals in 210 appearances across all competitions – 37 of which came in the WSL – helped the club to win the first 13 major trophies in the WSL era, including six league titles.

While the midfielder is known more for her creativity and brilliance on the ball, former manager Emma Hayes put it best, praising the South Korean for the uniqueness that she brought to not just the club, but women’s football overall.

The South Korean’s five PFA Team of the Year nominations still remains the most in WSL history, and the fact she did so in just nine seasons with the west London outfit really highlights both just how important she was to the team, and the legacy she left behind.

7

Beth Mead

WSL clubs played for: Sunderland, Arsenal

Having led Sunderland to the top flight of women’s English football, Mead’s debut season in the WSL in 2015 saw her fire in 12 goals in 14 games, which saw her win the Golden Boot, while also helping the newly-promoted Black Cats to finish fourth in the league. She also boasts the second-fastest hat-trick in WSL history, having hit three in just 18 minutes that season.

Earning a move to north London, where she joined one of the league’s heavy-hitters, Arsenal, she was deployed as a winger, and has since gone on to record 54 WSL goals and 50 assists in 131 appearances for The Gunners.

6

Kim Little

WSL clubs played for: Arsenal

While Kim Little first laced up for Arsenal in 2008, netting 54 times in 87 appearances between 2009-13, before going abroad for a few years, and returning to the Gunners in 2017, where she has been the heartbeat of the midfield.

In her time with Arsenal, so far, the club captain has won 15 major honours, including three WSL titles, whilst also having been named PFA Players’ Player of the Year, and named to the PFA Team of the Year three times. Having racked up 55 WSL goals, the Scottish midfielder is inside the top 10 on the WSL’s all-time goal-scorers list, with all those above her, aside from Jordan Nobbs, recognised as attackers.