Chelsea and England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton has been named winner of the 2025 FIFA
“The Best Women’s Goalkeeper” award, finishing ahead of Nigeria’s Chiamaka Nnadozie in a highly competitive field of the world’s leading shot-stoppers.
FIFA confirmed the result on Tuesday night with the release of the official voting breakdown, which placed Hampton at the summit after a year of standout performances for both club and country. She is only the second England player to claim the honour, following Mary Earps’ back-to-back wins in 2022 and 2023.
Hampton topped the vote with 28 points, securing first place ahead of Barcelona and Spain goalkeeper Cata Coll, who finished second on 20 points. Chile and Olympique Lyonnais veteran Christiane Endler placed third with 10 points, continuing her long-standing presence among the elite in the women’s game.
Nigeria’s Super Falcons goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie narrowly missed out on a place on the podium, ending the voting in fourth position with eight points. Her ranking came in a pool that featured goalkeepers from Europe, Africa and South America, underlining the level of competition at this year’s awards.
Despite falling just short of the top three, Nnadozie’s placement consolidates her status as one of the most reliable and consistent goalkeepers in world football. At only 25, the Brighton & Hove Albion Women goalkeeper has turned another season of strong performances into global recognition at FIFA level.
The Nigerian international finished ahead of Ann-Katrin Berger, Anna Moorhouse and Phallon Tullis-Joyce in the final standings, reflecting her impact across domestic and international football over the past year. Her rise has been fuelled by her form in the Women’s Super League, where she has become a standout figure since joining Brighton.
Earlier this month, Nnadozie climbed to the top of the WSL goal-prevention rankings, a data-driven measure that compares the quality of shots faced with the number of goals conceded. She currently leads that metric with a goal-prevention value of 2.9, ahead of Hampton on 1.9 and Japan international Ayaka Yamashita on 1.1.
That statistical dominance has been matched on the pitch. In Brighton’s recent 1–0 away victory against London City Lionesses, Nnadozie produced five saves to secure her third clean sheet of the league campaign. Across ten league matches, she has made 42 saves, with Brighton boasting the joint fourth-best defence in the WSL this season.
Nnadozie’s performances have not gone unnoticed beyond England. The Nigeria international also finished fourth in the inaugural Women’s Yachine Trophy earlier this year, an award which, like the FIFA prize, was won by Hampton. The repeat of that ranking further underlines how closely matched the pair have been at the highest level.
On the continental stage, Nnadozie has continued to dominate. A few weeks ago, she was named CAF Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year for the third consecutive time, extending her grip on the position as Africa’s leading women’s goalkeeper. Her latest CAF accolade came in a year in which she helped the Super Falcons win the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The sequence of awards and nominations paints the picture of a player on a steep upward trajectory. While Hampton celebrated being officially named the world’s best by FIFA voters, Nnadozie’s fourth-place finish confirms her as a central figure in both African and global women’s football, with scope for further progression in the years ahead.
For Nigeria, the recognition serves as another marker of the Super Falcons’ enduring influence on the women’s game. Having a goalkeeper ranked among the top four in the world strengthens the team’s profile ahead of future international competitions and adds further weight to the country’s reputation as a consistent producer of top talent.
Nnadozie will now turn her attention back to club duties, with Brighton set to face Aston Villa on 11 January. Brighton will be looking to build on their improving defensive record, and the Nigerian shot-stopper’s recent form suggests she will remain central to those ambitions.
While the 2025 FIFA “The Best Women’s Goalkeeper” award ultimately went to Hampton, the final rankings underline that Nnadozie is firmly established among the elite.