WSL top scorers of all time
FA WSL, which is the acronym for 'the Football Association Women's Super League', is the top flight league of women's football in England. It is also referred to as the Barclays FA Women's Super League due to sponsoring matters. Read on to find out more about the WSL top scorers of all time.
The Football Association Women's Super League is the highest level of professional women's football in the United Kingdom. The association was founded in 2010 and currently has 12 professional teams competing in it.
The FA WSL, now also known as the Barclays FA Women's Super League because of its sponsorship reasons, held its first season with eight teams in 2011.
From the 2014 to 2017-18 seasons, the Women's Super League consisted of two divisions - FA WSL 1 and FA WSL 2 - with teams promoting or relegating between the two levels depending on the result they achieved each season. From the 2018-19 season, the name of the second category was changed to FA Women's Championship.
WSL champions and runners-up qualify for the UEFA Women's Champions League each season. The current FA WSL champion is Chelsea, who won the 2019-2020 championship.
In the following, we will briefly review the history of WSL, then we will provide a list of
WSL top scorers of all time
, and then share the personal and professional backgrounds of each of these women's super league top goal scorers of all time.
Before we get into the list of FA women's super league leading goal scorers ever, we will have a brief look at the history of WSL.
The FA WSL was founded in 2010 to replace the FA Women's Premier League National Division as the top level of women's football in England. First season of FA WSl competitions was held in 2011 with 8 teams.
In 2014, the second division women's league called FA WSL 2 was formed. At that time, the FA WSL 1 competitions were held with 8 teams and the FA WSL 2 competitions with ten teams, but at the end of the same year, a two-year plan was made to increase the number of teams in FA WSL 1 totwelve teams.
Following the 2017–18 FA WSL season, WSL 1 was renamed back to the FA Women's Super League, becoming a fully professional league for the first time, with eleven teams for the 2018–19 season. The 2019-20 season was the first season of the FA WSL, which was played with 12 teams. The current champion of this competition is Chelsea.
In the 2020-21 season, 12 teams will participate in the Mena tournament:
Chelsea,
Manchester City,
Arsenal,
Manchester United, Reading,
Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Bristol City, Birmingham City and Aston Villa.
The record for most titles in the competition is shared by Arsenal and Chelsea with three titles, followed by Liverpool with two titles and Manchester City with one title.
Having been established in 2010, the league started with 8 competitor teams in its inaugural season, but the number of teams has been gradually increasing. Hence, in the most recent season of WSL (2019-20), 12 teams were fighting for the trophy, and the number of participating teams was not altered for the current season of 2020-21.
Before the WSL was founded, the highest ranked women's football league in the country was FA Women's Premier League National Division. From 2014 until the end of 2017-18 season, the League was constructed of 2 divisions: FA WSL 1 and FA WSL 2, where teams were promoting and relegating based on their final place in the tables' of the leagues.
In 2018, the FA WSL 2's name was changed to FA Women's Championship- similar to the men's version- and the first Division (WSL 1) was renamed FA Women's Super League once again.
Moreover, WSL had been primarily a summer league, until it was declared that the league was going to change its format to a winter league in 2016, following the same annual calendar as the traditional men's football leagues in the country.
As a result, a gap between the year of 2016 and 2017-18 season was created, which was filled by a "FA WSL Spring Series", a bridging season in which teams only played once against each other during the time between the February and the May of 2017. Chelsea won the competition. However, the statistics of the WSL Spring Series are not usually counted.
Not to consider the 2017 Spring Series, the most decorated team among the clubs so far is Chelsea, by winning the WSL title 3 times and finishing as runner-up on 3 occasions. In the second place, stands Arsenal with the same number of 3 championships, but they have not finished the league in the 2nd place yet.
has achieved the WSL trophy two times, and Manchester City has done the feat once. However, the Citizens have finished as runner-ups four times, more than any other team so far.
WSL top scorers of all time
Through the years from the league's establishment, yet not so long, many players have set foot on the pitches, showing their brilliance, most notably, in terms of scoring goals. In the following, we try to provide some concise summaries of the careers of WSL top scorers of all time.
Toni Duggan
Full name: Toni Duggan
Date of birth: 25 July 1991 (age 30)
Place of birth: Liverpool, England
Height: 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Playing position(s): Winger / Forward
is an English football player who can play as a winger or a forward. She is currently one of the players in the list of FA WSL top goal scorers ever with 36 goals.
The 30-year-old footballer, who is currently playing for the Spanish club
Atetico Madrid, spent her youth career with Everton. She moved to the senior team in 2007, and stayed at the club until 2013. With Everton, she won the 2007-8 FA Women's Premier League Cup as well as the FA Women's Cup in 2009-10. Duggan moved to Manchester City in 2013, where she won 2 FA Women's League Cups, the FA WSL title in 2016 and Women's FA Cup in 2017.
She decided to leave her country to head to Spain, where she played for Barcelona from 2017 to 2019, and helped the club to the conquest of 2 Copa Catalunya titles, 1 Copa de la reina and reaching the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League final.
Duggan stayed in Spain by making a move to Atletico Madrid in 2019, and has been playing for them ever since. With her added to the squad, Atletico Madrid won the Women's Spanish Super Cup in the January of 2021.
In addition to being one of the
WSL top scorers of all time
, Duggan has had a glittering career with her national team as well. In addition to playing for the national team on youth levels, she has featured in 76 matches since she made her debut for the senior team in 2012, as well as scoring 22 goals. Moreover, she was a part of the squad that finished 3rd in the 2015 Women's FIFA World Cup.
Furthermore, Duggan was voted the FA Women's Young Player of the Year in 2009 and the North West Female Player of 2013.
Rachel Williams
Full name: Rachel Louise Williams
Date of birth: 10 January 1988 (age 33)
Place of birth: Leicester, England
Height: 1.69 m (5.5 ft)
Playing position(s): Midfielder / Forward
, born 10 January 1988, is an English international women's footballer playing for
Tottenham Hotspurin the FA WSL.
Before rejoining Birmingham City in May 2017, Williams spent 2 years at Notts County Ladies, one year at Chelsea Ladies and three years at her first spell at
Birmingham City, where she was converted from an attacking midfielder to a striker. Williams stands on the list of FA Women's Super League top scorers of all time with more than 35 goals. The English striker is currently wearing Tottenham Hotspur's number-10 shirt in the FA WSL.
She has spent the entirety of her career in England until the present time, having played for
Leicester City, Doncaster Rovers Belles, Birmingham City, Chelsea, Notts County Ladies, and Tottenham Hotspur.
Regarded as one of the WSL top scorers ever, she has made 13 appearances for English national team, and has scored 4 goals. Moreover, she is renowned for her powerful and precise shots.
Williams was primarily a midfielder, but changed her position to striker early in her career (when playing for Birmingham City in her first spell). She was selected as a member of the Great Britain's team that competed in 2012 London Olympics.
Beth Mead
Full name: Bethany Jane Mead
Date of birth: 9 May 1995 (age 26)
Place of birth: Whitby, England
Height: 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Playing position(s): Forward
is an English attacker who currently plays for Arsenal in the FA WSL. She has scored more than 40 goals in the league so far, and is one of the players standing in the list of
FA Women's Super League leading goal scorers ever
. However, since she is an active player, the statistic will probably be altered.
Furthermore, the 26-year-old prolific goal scorer had spent 6 years with Sunderland, where she had scored the amazing number of 77 goals in 78 appearances, before joining Arsenal in 2017. She has appeared in 57 games ever since, as well as scoring 21 goals for the Gunners.
Moreover, she helped Sunderland win the FA WSL 2 in 2014, and win the promotion to WSL 1. With Arsenal, Mead has achieved the 2018-19 FA WSL title, as well as the 2017-18 Women's League Cup.
Additionally, she had an exhilarating career on individual stage. Mead has won the Vauxhall England Young Player of the year award twice, in 2015 and 2018, was named the PFA (Professional Footballers' Association) Women's Young Player of the Year in 2016 and FSF Women's Player of the Year in 2018. Besides, she was crowned the FA WSL's top scorer in 2015.
Having performed in every youth level from U-15, Mead has been a key player in the England national team's squad since her debut in 2018. Regarded as one of the WSL top scorers of all time at the age of 25, a very luminous future lies ahead of the talented player.
Kim Little
Full name: Kim Alison Little
Date of birth: Team: 19 June 1990 (age 31)
Place of birth: Team: Mintlaw, Scotland
Height: 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Playing position(s): Attacking midfielder
is an undeniable player in the ranking of
women's Super League top goal scorers of all time
with more than 40 goals. The Scottish attacking midfielder currently captains Arsenal in the FA WSL.
She started her professional senior career with the Scottish club Hibernia Ladies in 2006, where she won the Scottish Women's Premier League title, the Scottish Women's Cup and the Premier League Cup in 2006-7.
Little made her move to England to starts her first spell with Arsenal in 2008, which lasted for 5 years, as well as winning 2 Premier League Championships, 2 FA Women's Super League titles, 3 FA Cups, 1 Premier Cup as well as 3 WSL Cups.
In 2013, Little decided to move to the U.S. and play for Seattle Reign FC, where she achieved 2 NWSL shields (regular season winners).
She also had a spell with the Australian club
Melbourne City, and helped the W-League in 2016. She returned to Arsenal in 2017, and has been with the club ever since, helping them to the conquest of 1 further WSL Cup and 1 more FA WSL titles so far.
Furthermore, being known as one of the WSL top scorers of all time, she also has a number of other individual achievements throughout her career. Little was named the FA Women's Player of the Year in 2010, PFA Women's Players' Player of the year in 2013, and BBC Women's Footballer of the year in 2016.
Moreover, Little had a glittering individual career in America, by being voted as the NWSL most valuable player in 2014, winning the Golden Boot in the same year, and being listed in NWSL Best XI for 2 consecutive years in 2014 and 2015.
Furthermore, she is the vice-captain of the Scottish national team, having made 139 appearances and scored 59 goals.
Additionally, the talented player was one of the only 2 Scottish players that were called up to be in the Great Britain's squad for the 2012 London Olympics. She is known for her outstanding pace, technique with the ball, reading-game abilities and strength.
Fara Williams
Full name: Fara Tanya Franki Merrett
Date of birth: 25 January 1984 (age 36)
Place of birth: London, England
Height: 1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Playing position(s): Midfielder
is an English midfielder who is one of the prominent players on the list of the WSL leading goal scorers in history with more than 40 goals. She is regarded as one of the best active English players.
Williams commenced her career with Chelsea, and signed for Charlton Athletic club in 2001, and stayed there for 3 years. She made a move to Everton in 2004, to start her 8-year spell with them. With her added to Everton's squad, they won the 2008 Premier League Cup as well as the 2010 FA Women's Cup.
As an unusual act, the captain of Everton moved to their eternal rival, Liverpool, in 2012. She achieved the FA WSL trophy with Liverpool on 2 occasions, and was named Liverpool's player of the season in 2015. After a short spell with Arsenal, she has been wearing Reading's shirt since 2017.
Considered as one of the WSL top scorers of all time while being a midfielder, it was clear from the beginning that Williams was going to be a great player. She was voted the 2002 Football Association Young Player of the Year, FA Players' Player of the year in 2009, and was named the FA International Player of the year twice, in 2007 and 2009.
Similar to her club career, Williams has also had an admirable career on personal level. With 172 appearances for England national team, she is the most capped player in the history of the team, taking part in 3 World Cups and 4 Euros.
Moreover, she has scored 40 goals, and won the Cyprus Cup three times, as well as being runner-up in 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, and earning the Bronze medal in 2015 World Cup.
Furthermore, she was named in the Great Britain's squad for the 2012 London Olympics, where they reached the quarter finals.
Beth England
Full name: Bethany England
Date of birth: 3 June 1994 (age 27)
Place of birth: Barnsley, England
Height: 1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Playing position(s): Midfielder, Forward
is considered as one of the best active players in the WSL. Being mentioned on the list of
FA WSL top goal scorers ever
with more than 40 goals, England is currently playing for Chelsea.
After playing for Doncaster Rovers Belles and Sheffield Wednesday, England joined Chelsea in 2016 and has stayed there until the present time. However, she spent the 2017-18 season playing for Liverpool on loan.
With Chelsea, she has won the 2017 FA WSL Spring Series, 2 FA WSL titles, in 2018 and 2020, the Women's FA Cup in 2018, FA Women's League Cup in 2020 as well as the 2020 FA Women's Community Shield.
Moreover, England has been one of the best FA WSL players, if not the best, in the last 2 years. To clarify the point, she was named the FA WSL Player of the year in 2020, PFA Women's Players' Player of the year for the 2019-20season, and was included in the list of PFA's WSL Team of the Year of 2020; Mostly due to his undeniable, vital role in Chelsea's winning both the WSL and the FA Women's League Cup last season.
Known as one of the best current English forwards and one of the WSL top scorers of all time, she made his debut for English national senior team in 2019, and has scored 2 goals in 8 appearances since then. Furthermore, she has played for U-19 and U-23 England national team as well.
Vivianne Miedema
Full name: Anna Margaretha Marina Astrid Miedema
Date of birth: 15 July 1996 (age 25)
Place of birth: Hoogeveen, Netherlands
Height: 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position(s): Forward
Currently playing for Arsenal,
Ana Margaretha Marina Astrid Miedemais one of the most notable players in the list of
FA Women's Super League top scorers of all time
by scoring more than 50 goals so far. The Dutch player is known to be one of the best forwards in the world of women's football.
She started playing for SC Heerenveen in her country in 2011, where she scored the astounding number of 78 goals in only 69 appearances within 3 years. She became the youngest player that has ever played in the Eredivisie when she made her debut for the club at the age of 15.
Despite being a teenager, she was the second-top scorer of the league in her debut season. The highlight of her career with Heerenveen, was when she scored 41 goals in only 26 matches in the 2013-14 season of BeNe League (Belgium and Netherlands' women football top level League) at the age of only 17.
After her impressive performances, she joined
Bayern Munichin 2014, where she stayed for 3 years, and scored a total of 35 goals in 61 matches. Moreover, she helped the club win the Women's Bundesliga for the first time since 1976 in her first season with the club. With her, Bayern replicated the feat the next season.
After her dissatisfaction with some technical tactics in the German club, she decided to join Arsenal in 2017. In her first season, he helped her club to the conquest of the 2017-18FA WSL Cup, by scoring the winning goal in the final match.
The following season was her breakthrough in England, when she was crowned the League's top scorer with 22 goals, and was named the PFA Women's Players' Player of the year, as Arsenal win the WSL title for the first time since 2012.
Following her astonishing performances, the young talented player placed 5th in 2019 Ballon d'Or Feminin. Miedema scored 16 goals in 14 appearances in the 2019-20season that was suspended due to COVID-19's outbreak, and Arsenal was placed 3rd bases on the criteria of points per game.
She became the first player to have scored 50 goals in the WSL when she scored her 50th goal in the October of 2020, breaking Nikita Parris's record.
A fierce competition between Miedema and Manchester City's Ellen White is in progress to reach the top of the list of FA Women's Super League leading goal scorers ever, since they are the only 2 players who has scored more than 50 goals, and are still active.
Moreover, Miedema is Netherland's national team's all-time top scorer- both men and women- with 71 goals in 93 appearances.
Furthermore, she has finished the FA WSL as the top scorer the last 2 seasons, and the UEFA Champions League in 2017 and 2020. Miedema was named the FWA Women's Footballer of the year in 2019-20, and was voted in 2020 IFFHS Women's World Tea and FIFA FIFPro Women's World11. She also holds the record of scoring the most goals in a single WSL season, with 22 goals.
Jordan Nobbs
Full name: Team: Jordan Nobbs
Date of birth: Team: 8 December 1992 (age 29)
Place of birth: Team: Stockton-on-Tees, England
Height: 1.59 m (5 ft 3 in)
Playing position(s): Midfielder
, born 8 December 1992, is an English footballer who plays for FA WSL club Arsenal. She has been described as a "combative" central midfielder who scores goals.
Nobbs used to play for Sunderland; she represented the England women's national football team at both youth and senior level.
Another active, Arsenal player, Jordan Nobbs has been playing for Gunners since WSL's foundation in 2010. Although she is a midfielder, she is regarded as one of the
WSL top scorers of all time
by scoring more than 45 goals (and counting).
With the energetic, incursive English midfielder added to the squad, Arsenal has won 3 FA WSL titles, 4 FA Women's Cups, as well as 5 FA WSL Cups.
Nobbs has appeared in 61 games for England national team, and helped them won the Cyprus Cup twice, as well as finishing the 2015 World Cup in the 3rd place.
Furthermore, she has had a bright career on individual stage. Nobbs, was named the FA Young Player of the Year in 2010, FA Players' Player of the Year in 2017, and FA Player of the Year in 2016.
The 29-year-old midfielder plays a pivotal role in Arsenal's current squad, and is among the Women's Super League top goal scorers of all time.
Nikita Parris
Full name: Nikita Josephine Parris
Date of birth: 10 March 1994 (age 27)
Place of birth: Toxteth, England
Height: 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Playing position(s): Forward
, born 10 March 1994, is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for French Division 1 Féminine club
Olympique Lyonnaisand the England national team. She previously played for Manchester City and Everton in England's Women's Super League (FA WSL).
Parris is a striker who is currently playing for the French Club Olympique Lyonnais. Unlike many of other players on the list of the WSL top scorers of all time, she is not playing in the league right now, and her record of 49 goals is fixed, at least until she decides to return to her country.
She has played for Everton and Manchester City in the WSL. Parris won the Women's Super League title in 2016, the FA WSL Cup in 2016 and 2019, and the FA Women's Cup in 2017 and 2019.
She joined Lyon in 2019, and helped them to the conquest of 1 French Cup, 1 French League title , 1 French Super Cup and the UEFA Champions League in her very first season.
Nikita Parris was the leading player in the list of
WSL leading goal scorers in history
from 2018 to 2020, until Vivianne Miedema broke her record. Later, Ellen White also passed Parris's record. Furthermore, she was named the 2019 FWA Women's Footballer of the Year.
Within 50 appearances for English national team, she has scored 14 goals, as well as helping them finish 4th in 2019 Women's World Cup and reaching the semi-final of EURO 2017.
Ellen White
Full name: Ellen Toni White
Date of birth: 9 May 1989 (age 32)
Place of birth: Aylesbury, England
Height: 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position(s): Forward
, who is currently playing for Manchester City, is one of the 2 WSL top scorers of all time, alongside Vivianne Miedemma, both have scored more than 50 goals so far, and both are still playing in the league in a good form.
White has represented Chelsea, Leeds Carnegie, Arsenal, Notts County, Birmingham City, and since 2019, has been wearing Manchester City's shirt. With Leeds Carnegie, she won the FA Women's Premier League Cup in 2010. With Arsenal, she achieved 2 consecutive FA WSL titles in 2011 and 2012, as well as 2 FA Women's Cups and 3 FA WSL Cups. Moreover, White won the 2019-20 Women's FA Cup with Citizens.
The prolific goal scorer is considered as one of the FA WSL top goal scorers ever, having a competition with the Dutch Miedema. The record is constantly breaking by these 2 brilliant strikers.
Moreover, she has featured in 93 games for England national team, and has scored 39 goals. She has participated in 3 women World Cups, 2011, 2015 and 2019, helping her country reach the semi-finals in the last 2, and winning the Bronze medal in 2015.
Furthermore, she was a part of the Great Britain's squad in the 2012 London Olympics. She also won the 2013 Cyprus Cup with English national team, as well as the SheBelieves Cuo in 2019.
Additionally, she has had an impressive career individually as well as on team level. White won the 2019 World Cup's Bronze boot, and the 2017-18WSL Golden Boot. Moreover, she has been named England Women's Player of the year in 2011 and 2018, and was voted in the 2017-18 FA WSL PFA Team of the year, and was named as the FA Women's International Player of the year in 2011 (Jointly with Scott)
Most of the above-mentioned players are still playing in the WSL. Thus, the numbers of most of the players' goals are not stated precisely, as they are changing every week.
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