Most influential female football players and how much they make per Instagram post
Social media has transformed the way famous athletes reach and communicate with their audiences and some of the most followed people on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, are, in fact, football players. Cristiano Ronaldo, in particular, is the king of Instagram and Facebook and has the fifth most followed account on Twitter. So, what about female footballers?
Women’s football may not be as popular as its men’s counterpart, at least not in Europe and the UK, but female footballers have some of the best social media accounts worth following if you are a true football fan. Rather than focusing solely on their careers, these athletes also share moments of their daily life, various experiences, and travels around the world. Moreover, some players are excellent content creators and could be successful influencers, as well, if they wish to partner up with a brand.
Our team at SportingPedia decided to take a look at some of the most famous female footballers and their accounts on social media, ranking them by the number of followers they have on Instagram and the average price they could charge per post.
Methodology
This ranking of the top female footballers on social media was created using the Instagram Money Calculator by InfluencerBay. It is targeted towards Instagram influencers and users who wish to know how much they should be charging the companies and brands they work with per post. Once you enter an Instagram username, the calculator analyzes the account, displaying a handful of key statistics – the number of your followers and how many people you follow, the number of your posts, and the number of likes and comments per post, which shows the engagement as a percentage. Based on these figures, the calculator estimates how much you could earn from each post, showing averages that are based on your 12 last posts.
Alex Morgan
Alex Morgan, a 33-year-old footballer from California, who currently plays as a striker and a captain for San Diego Wave FC, was ranked in Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2019 and 2022. She started her professional career with the Western New York Flash in 2011 and has also played for Portland Thorns FC, Orlando Pride, Lyon, and Tottenham Hotspur. The athlete is also part of the U.S. national team, for which she has 198 appearances and 119 goals (since 2010). Among her many awards and accolades are U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year and a FIFA World Player of the Year finalist in 2012, a two-time FIFA World Cup champion, and a holder of the Silver Boot in 2019.
Marta da Silva
Brazilian footballer Marta da Silva, commonly known as just Marta, has more awards than we can count and was selected as one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Advocates by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres in 2019. As for her football career, Marta has been an example of what success should look like – since her professional debut back in 2000 Vasco da Gama, she has played for various clubs in Brazil, the U.S., and Sweden, including Umea IK, Western New York Flash, and San Francisco’s Gold Pride and currently, she is part of Orlando Pride. A captain and a top scorer (115 goals) for Brazil’s national team, she has been named FIFA World Player of the Year six times, won the Golden Ball (MVP) at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship, and was awarded both the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot in the 2007 Women’s World Cup.
Megan Rapinoe
Considered one of the most successful players in U.S. women’s football, 37-year-old Megan Rapinoe is a winger for the national team and the captain of Seattle’s OL Reign. With the U.S. national team, she has the second-most caps, 195, only after captain Becky Sauerbrunn (209), and was a champion at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. At the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, Rapinoe was awarded both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball, scoring 6 times and recording 3 assists throughout the tournament. Before 2013 when she signed with OL Reign, she played for various clubs, including Chicago Red Stars, Philadelphia Independence, and MagicJack, as well as Olympique Lyon in France’s Division 1 Féminine.
Alexia Putellas
Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas, who has played for Barcelona since 2012 and is currently the team’s captain, is among the best footballers in Spain’s Primera División. She started her football career in CE Sabadell and spent most of her youth in Espanyol, later transferring to Levante for the 2011-2012 season where, at the age of 17, she became the top scorer for the club with 15 goals in a total of 34 matches. After the summer of 2012, when she moved to Barcelona, she gradually rose to fame with several successful appearances, most notably in the Copa de la Reina final against Prainsa Zaragoza when she scored a remarkable goal and was chosen as MVP for her performance. With Barcelona, she has 6 league titles, 7 Copas de la Reina, and 1 UEFA Women’s Champions League title. Putellas is also a two-time UEFA Women’s Player of the Year and won the Ballon d’Or Féminin and The Best FIFA Women’s Player in 2021.
Carli Lloyd
Retired US footballer Carli Lloyd, who has made 316 appearances for the U.S. national team between 2005 and 2021, started her professional career with Chicago Red Stars. Over the years, she has played as a midfielder and forward for Atlanta Beat, Western New York Flash, Houston Dash, and Sky Blue (NJ/NY Gotham) and joined Manchester City on loan in 2017. Lloyd is a two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion (2015 and 2019), a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2008 and 2012), a two-time FIFA Player of the Year (2015 and 2016), and a four-time Olympian (2008, 2012, 2016 and 2021). At the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, she won the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament and was awarded the Silver Boot for her 6 goals and one assist. Shortly before her retirement, she was named the world’s highest-paid female soccer player.
Sam Kerr
A forward and captain for the Australian women’s national team, Sam Kerr is currently considered one of the best female footballers in the world. The 29-year-old made her debut in professional football with Perth Glory when she was 15, transferring to Sydney FC and then moving on to several U.S. teams, including Western New York Flash, Sky Blue FC, and Chicago Red Stars. Since 2020, Kerr has been playing for Chelsea where, as of October 10, 2022, she has 47 appearances and 42 goals. After scoring 21 times in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League, the N.20 won the Golden Boot award for the second time in 2022. She was also voted Chelsea’s Women’s Player of the Season by the team’s supporters.
Julie Ertz
Julie Ertz, a 30-year-old from Mesa, Arizona, has been a midfielder for the U.S. national team since 2013 and has made a total of 116 appearances for the team. Ertz, who has played football since school, attended Santa Clara University where she became part of the Santa Clara Broncos, and in 2014, she signed with Chicago Red Stars where she spent most of her professional career. She won the U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year in 2017 and 2019, as well as the Best NWSL Player ESPY Award in 2021. She is also a two-time FIFA World Cup champion – in the 2015 World Cup, she was selected for both the All-Star Squad and the Dream Team. Ertz was acquired by the 2022 expansion team Angel City FC but after giving birth to a baby boy in August, she is not expected to appear before 2023.
Ada Hegerberg
Norwegian footballer Ada Hegerberg, who’s been part of Norway’s national team since 2011, was the first-ever recipient of the Ballon d’Or Féminin in 2018. Between 2017 and March 2022, she stopped representing the national team as a form of protest against the poor treatment of women’s football in the country. The 27-year-old striker made her professional debut in the Norwegian club Kolbotn where she played with her older sister Andrine. The sisters later moved to Stabæk and to Germany’s Turbine Potsdam. Since 2014, Ada has been in Olympique Lyonnais where she has 154 goals in a total of 134 matches. Hegerberg has been a top scorer for her club in the Champions League and Division 1 Féminine since the 2015-2016 season. Her only obstacle came in 2020 when she sustained an injury but managed to come back in November 2021. With 59 goals, she is currently the all-time highest goalscorer in UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Jennifer Hermoso
Spanish footballer and forward Jennifer Hermoso started her youth career in Atlético Madrid where she stayed for 8 years before moving to Rayo Vallecano in 2010, and later to the Swedish Tyresö FF and FC Barcelona. She has also played for Paris Saint-Germain but ultimately returned to Barcelona in 2019 where she remains the all-time top scorer despite her latest transfer in June 2022 to the Mexican club Pachuca, which competes in Liga MX Femenil, the highest division of women’s football in Mexico. Since she’s been part of the Spanish national team, she has scored 45 goals and has a total of 91 appearances, which makes her the all-time top-scorer for Spain, as well.
Lucy Bronze
30-year-old Lucy Bronze is an English footballer who plays as a right-back for the England national team and since 2013, she has had 99 appearances and 11 goals. Bronze was also a part of the Great Britain women’s Olympic football team in 2021. In 2019, she won the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year Award and in 2020, she was named The Best FIFA Women’s Player. Starting her professional career in Sunderland, she has also played for Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, and Lyon. In June 2022, Bronze joined Barcelona, which is the current champion in the women’s Primera División, a title that it holds for the seventh time.
Vivianne Miedema
Vivianne Miedema is a 26-year-old forward for Arsenal and has played for the Netherlands national team since 2013. She has played football since an early age and started her professional career in 2011 when she joined the Eredivisie club SC Heerenveen at the age of 14. Later, she transferred to Bayern Munich and in 2017, she signed with Arsenal. Currently, she is the all-time leading scorer in the FA Women’s Super League and was part of Arsenal when they won the 2018-2019 championship. With Bayern, she won two consecutive Frauen-Bundesliga titles in 2015 and 2016 and with the Dutch national team, Miedema won the UEFA Women’s Euro in 2017.
Fran Kirby
Fran Kirby is a professional footballer from England who made her debut in professional football in her hometown club Reading in 2012. In 2015, she signed with Chelsea where she has played as an attacking midfielder ever since. With her 56 goals in 86 matches, she is her club’s all-time top-scorer and has been named Chelsea’s Player of the Year twice. After joining the England national team in 2014, Kirby represented her country in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada, the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, the UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 in the Netherlands, as well as the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she was part of the Great Britain team.
Aitana Bonmatí
Aitana Bonmatí began her journey in professional football at La Masia, the youth academy of FC Barcelona. Since she joined Barça’s senior team in 2016, she has had 168 appearances and 52 goals and has been an important addition to the club, scoring in the 2021 UEFA Women’s Champions League final where she helped Barcelona secure a 0:4 win against Chelsea. For her performance, she was named Player of the Match, while later that year, she was also voted Catalan Player of the Year. With the national team, she has 45 appearances and 16 goals and was part of Spain’s squad at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Pernille Harder
The Danish footballer Pernille Harder is one of the most successful members of the Denmark women’s national team. She started her career by playing in several Danish clubs within the semi-professional Elitedivisionen and later transferred to Skovbakken and then, the Swedish club Linköping FC. After moving to Germany to play for VfL Wolfsburg, Harder won the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal. Since September 2020, she plays as an attacking midfielder for Chelsea, although she admitted she grew up as a huge Manchester United fan.
Amandine Henry
Amandine Henry, a 33-year-old defensive midfielder, is the captain of the France women’s football national team, representing her country since 2009. In her teenage years, she attended the women’s section of the Clairefontaine academy for two seasons and in 2007, she joined Olympique Lyonnais where she spent most of her professional career. Henry has also played for Portland Thorns and was in Paris Saint-Germain on loan. With Lyon, she has won multiple times Division 1, Coupe de France, and UEFA Women’s Champions League and as part of the French national team, Henry won the FIFA Women’s World Cup Silver Ball in 2015 and was selected in the All-Star Team.
Keira Walsh
25-year-old Keira Walsh is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for FC Barcelona and has been in England’s national team since 2017. Walsh started her career in Blackburn Rovers but along with football, in her youth, she has also played badminton, cricket, swimming, and netball. In 2014, she joined Manchester City and was made vice-captain shortly after signing her official contract in 2015. Until 2022, she made more than 200 appearances for the club, 118 of which were in domestic league matches. In September, she transferred to Barcelona for roughly £400,000, which is a world-record transfer fee in women’s football. With the national team, Walsh won UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and was named Player of the Match in the final.
Magdalena Eriksson
Swedish footballer, 29-year-old Magdalena Eriksson is among the best defenders in women’s football today. She plays as a center-back and left-back for Chelsea but has begun her career in Enskede IK and Hammarby IF, two Stockholm clubs. She then transferred to Djurgårdens and to Linköpings FC where she stayed for 5 years before finally moving to Chelsea in 2017. Currently, she is Chelsea’s captain, winning FA Women’s Super League 4 times, Women’s FA Cup 3 times, FA Women’s League Cup 2 times, and the FA Community Shield once in 2020. Eriksson has been on Sweden’s national team since 2014 and was awarded the Diamantbollen, or the Diamond Ball, for being Sweden’s best female footballer in 2020. She was also named Swedish Defender of the Year at the Fotbollsgalan in 2020 and 2021.
Lauren Hemp
English professional footballer Lauren Hemp started playing football at a young age, beginning at her hometown club North Walsham Youth FC, and then Norwich City where she played for 7 years. In 2016, she joined the senior team at Bristol City FC as a forward and since 2018, she has played for Manchester City. With her club, she won the FA Women’s Cup in the 2019-2020 season and the Women’s League Cup in 2021-2022. Hemp was also part of England’s national team when they won the UEFA Women’s Championship 2022.
Wendie Renard
Wendie Renard is a 32-year-old footballer from Martinique, a French island, which is part of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Although she was not accepted into the national training program Clairefontaine, Renard was spotted by Olympique Lyonnais and joined the team at the age of 16. Since then, she has made 266 appearances (in domestic matches) and scored 85 goals, and is currently the captain of the most successful club in French women’s football. With Lyon, she has won 14 consecutive league titles, many Challenge de France trophies, and 7 Women’s Champions League titles. She also captains the national team, recording 137 appearances and 33 goals since 2011.
Caroline Hansen
Caroline Hansen, an Oslo native and professional footballer for Barcelona, started playing football as a child and teenager in mixed-gender teams and later, as part of an all-boy team in SFK Lyn. Today, she is widely considered one of the best wingers in the world and her professional career has spanned over 12 years and several different clubs. She has played for Norway’s Stabæk, Sweden’s Tyresö, and Germany’s VfL Wolfsburg, and since 2019, she has been part of FC Barcelona. As part of the club, she won the Primera División in the 2019-2020 season and the UEFA Women’s Champions League in 2021. Hansen has also represented Norway as part of the national team since 2011.
Marie-Antoinette Katoto
23-year-old Marie-Antoinette Katoto is a young and promising French footballer who already became the all-time top scorer for her club, Paris Saint-Germaine. The N.9 started her journey in professional football at PSG youth academy, turning into a successful striker for the team, scoring 108 times and making 113 appearances since 2015. Katoto has one Division 1 title, as well as two Coupe de France trophies, and has played for the France national team since 2018.
Dzsenifer Marozsán
Budapest-born Dzsenifer Marozsán is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Germany’s national team. She moved from Hungary to Germany back in 1996 when her father, former Hungarian footballer János Marozsán signed with FC Saarbrücken. She then started playing for DJK Burbach and later Saarbrücken, entering their senior team in 2007. Aged 14, she became the youngest footballer to play in the German Bundesliga and at the age of 15, she became the youngest goal scorer in the league. Marozsán then signed with FFC Frankfurt where she played for 7 years until 2016 when she joined France’s Olympique Lyonnais. She is currently under contract with Lyon but could not play in the 2022 UEFA Women’s Champions League Final where her club won the trophy due to an injury. It also kept her out of Germany’s team in UEFA Women’s Euro 2022.
Christine Sinclair
Canada’s Christine Sinclair, who at the age of 39 still plays as a forward for Portland Thorns FC, captains both her club team and the Canada national team. She started playing football in her youth back in 1994 for the Burnaby Girls Soccer Club, later moving on to collegiate sport with the Portland Pilots in the U.S. Her professional career began in Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and in 2008, she was selected by the FC Gold Pride in the draft for the inaugural season of the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league in the U.S. After a short stay in 2011-2012 at Western New York Flash, Sinclair eventually signed with Portland Thorns in 2013 and since then, has made 161 appearances and scored 65 goals. With more than 300 caps and 190 goals in 22 seasons as part of the Canada national team, she is a 14-time winner of the Canada Soccer Player of the Year award. In 2013, Sinclair was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame and in 2022, she was given the Best FIFA Special Award for being the world’s all-time leading scorer.
Catarina Macario
Brazilian-born Catarina Macario is a professional footballer who represents the United States in international tournaments and plays as a midfielder for Olympique Lyonnais. The 23-year-old played for boys’ teams while in Brazil but after moving to the U.S., she started in the girls’ team at the San Diego Surf, breaking all goalscoring records in the Elite Clubs National League with her 165 goals. Macario then moved to Stanford Cardinal, while her professional career began in 2021 when she signed with Lyon for 2.5 years.
Kim Little
Scottish footballer and midfielder Kim Little is currently the captain of Arsenal and until she retired from Scotland’s national team in 2021, she was a vice-captain there, as well. She began playing football in her teenage years as part of the Buchan Girls FC and Hibs Girls FC and made her professional debut at the age of 16 for Hibernian L.F.C during a UEFA Women’s Champions League match against RCD Espanyol. In 2008, she joined Arsenal and later played for several other clubs but returned to Arsenal in 2017. Despite sustaining a serious injury, Little managed to score 44 goals and make 91 appearances for the club since then.