WSL Season Highlights: Game-Changing Players
Some seasons are defined by title races or touchline feuds. This one in the WSL was defined by individuals who bent entire campaigns to their will. From a fearless goalkeeper on the south coast to a ruthless No.9 in sky blue, the league’s best XI reads like a roll call of players who didn’t just play well – they shifted standards.
Nnadozie transforms Brighton from the back
Start with the signing of the season.
Chiamaka Nnadozie arrived at Brighton last summer with a reputation, but no guarantees. By May, she had turned into the division’s standout goalkeeper and the anchor of a rebuilt defence.
Dario Vidosic was drawn to her aggressive starting positions, that bold willingness to step out and own her box. She kept that trait in England and wrapped the rest of her game around it. The effect was stark: Brighton, who had leaked 41 goals in 22 league games in 2024-25, conceded just 27 in the same number of matches this time.
That swing doesn’t happen without a goalkeeper who saves not just shots, but points.
Casparij, the full-back who drove a title charge
On the opposite end of the pitch, no one created more in the WSL than Kerstin Casparij.
In her fourth year at Manchester City, the full-back exploded. Seven assists, a career-high three league goals, and an influence that went far beyond numbers. In Andrée Jeglertz’s more direct, high-tempo City, Casparij became a constant outlet on the right, stretching games and punishing space.
The telling detail? Seven of her 10 combined goals and assists came against the rest of the top four. When the stakes rose, her output went with it. Yet she still had the engine and discipline to lock down her flank, crucial in a campaign that ended with City crowned champions.
Koga puts Tottenham on the map
Toko Koga walked into Tottenham as a 19-year-old hardly known outside Japan. She leaves this season as one of the most talked-about centre-backs in the league.
Over nine months, she grew into Spurs’ defensive leader. Positioning, timing, composure under pressure – all of it at a level that belied her age. Martin Ho’s praise after she collected the Adults Supporters’ Player of the Season award felt entirely justified. He called out her maturity, her understanding, her character. All of that showed every weekend.
The scary part for the rest of the WSL? She has only just turned 20. Tottenham have found a cornerstone.
Jade Rose: rookie in name only
On the other side of the title race, another new centre-back quietly became indispensable.
Jade Rose needed a few weeks to break into Jeglertz’s XI at Manchester City. Once she did, she refused to leave it, playing every minute from that point as City ended a decade-long wait for a WSL crown.
Her team-mate Khadija Shaw summed it up best: this is a defender who already looks capable of becoming one of the world’s very best. Rose’s reading of danger, comfort on the ball and calm in high-pressure moments made her feel like anything but a first-year professional.
For City, she didn’t just slot in. She set a new bar.
McCabe, Arsenal’s problem-solver
If one player embodied Arsenal’s resilience, it was Katie McCabe.
The Gunners’ back line never seemed settled, injuries forcing constant reshuffles. McCabe simply filled the gaps. Left-back, centre-back, midfield – wherever Jonas Eidevall needed stability, the Ireland international provided it, and Arsenal ended up with the best defensive record in the division.
In her natural role on the left, she balanced risk and responsibility with rare precision. She ranked in Arsenal’s top five for key passes and accurate passes in the final third, while also sitting among their leaders for tackles, clearances, interceptions and blocks. She attacked with intent and defended with grit.
No wonder so many Arsenal supporters winced at the prospect of her leaving – especially with a move to domestic rivals Manchester City looming.
Hasegawa, the metronome of a champion
Some players don’t shout for attention. They just control everything.
Yui Hasegawa did exactly that for Manchester City. Once a No.10, she has become one of the elite holding midfielders in the game since arriving in 2022, tasked with replacing Keira Walsh and reinventing herself in the process.
This season, she reached another level. Her reading of the game allowed City to squeeze the pitch, her defensive coverage plugged gaps before they opened, and her influence in the final third grew. The club’s director of football, Therese Sjögran, has already placed her alongside the best in the world in that No.6 role. City’s first WSL title in 10 years only strengthened that argument.
When City dictated tempo, Hasegawa’s fingerprints were all over it.
Miedema, reimagined and reborn
Vivianne Miedema’s shift into midfield always hinted at something special without quite delivering it. The structure never fully clicked, injuries repeatedly stalled the experiment, and her talent felt trapped between roles.
Jeglertz found the solution.
In City’s new setup, Miedema operated with freedom between the lines and a clear framework around her. The result was a devastating campaign: 15 combined goals and assists, the third-best tally in the league, despite the Netherlands star missing the final three games.
Her partnership with Shaw tore open defences. Miedema threaded passes, drifted into scoring positions and looked, once again, like the WSL’s all-time top scorer rather than a player battling to regain rhythm. After three years disrupted by injuries, she finally had a platform worthy of her ability.
Russo, the complete forward evolves
No one was dislodging the league’s outstanding No.9 from this XI, but Alessia Russo still demanded inclusion.
Arsenal used her as both a striker and a No.10, and that versatility underpinned a superb season. Russo finished with 13 goals and six assists, a direct goal involvement tally bettered only by Shaw. Dropping deeper to play off Stina Blackstenius, she linked play, dragged defenders out of shape and helped unlock the best WSL campaign of the Sweden international’s career.
With Blackstenius signed on and Michelle Agyemang waiting in the wings, Russo’s comfort behind a central striker gives Arsenal intriguing options for the future. Yet her work as a traditional No.9 remains just as impressive. Her finishing, movement in the box and variety of goals all ticked upwards in what became her most prolific league season so far.
Hanson, the winger who became a finisher
Kirsty Hanson’s story is one of reinvention.
After years operating out wide, she moved centrally at 27 under Natalia Arroyo and immediately delivered the best goal-scoring return of her career. Twelve goals in 21 league games, good enough for third in the Golden Boot race, told part of the tale.
The underlying numbers added the punchline. Hanson scored those 12 from an expected goals figure of just 6.7, converting 21 per cent of her shots. That rate put her ahead of names like Russo, Shaw and Sam Kerr, and behind only a handful of players who had taken at least 10 shots.
It wasn’t a hot streak on the fringes. It was a full-scale positional breakthrough. The question now is how far she can push this new version of herself.
Shaw, the gold standard No.9
At centre-forward, there was no debate.
Khadija Shaw has long been talked about as the best striker in the women’s game. This season hardened opinion into conviction. Twenty-one goals in 22 league matches, a third straight Golden Boot and, crucially, a first WSL winners’ medal.
Along the way she ripped up records, including the fastest hat-trick in league history in a 5-2 demolition of Tottenham in March. Martin Ho, on the receiving end that day, called her “the best forward in the world by a mile” and listed the reasons: heading, finishing off both feet, link-up play, movement, back-to-goal strength.
He missed one: her defensive work. Shaw dropped into her own box to clear danger, pressed from the front and set the tone without the ball. She played like a complete centre-forward, which is why the prospect of her leaving City feels so bewildering from the club’s point of view.
Hemp, the relentless wide threat
This was not Lauren Hemp’s most eye-catching season for goals and assists. It might have been her most important.
In a City squad stacked with wide talent, she was a constant starter. She led the league for key passes and big chances created, finishing with six assists – a figure only Casparij and Aston Villa’s Lynn Wilms could better, with seven apiece.
Hemp stretched games with her direct running, forced full-backs into retreat and kept City on the front foot. When the game plan demanded more defensive graft, she embraced that too, tracking back, doubling up and doing the ugly work that often goes unnoticed.
Her blend of creativity, work rate and tactical discipline helped deliver a first WSL title in 10 years to the blue half of Manchester.
Put them together and you see the shape of a changing league: young defenders playing with old heads, forwards reinventing themselves, midfielders redefining roles, and a champion side built on both stardust and structure.
If this is the standard for a “best XI” now, what will it take to make the next one?
