Now in its third year of recognition, the WICC Best XI list highlights key individuals who helped advance women’s football in 2022.
On Monday, Relevent Sports Group (RSG) unveiled the latest class of the Women’s International Champions Cup (WICC) Best XI, with international soccer superstars Asisat Oshoala (FC Barcelona, Nigeria) and Linda Caicedo (Deportivo Cali, Colombia) earning recognition alongside a prestigious group of owners, managers, football journalists, and activists.
England women’s national team manager Sarina Wiegman received praise for winning the nation’s first-ever major women’s championship in July and ESPN journalist Jeff Kassouf also landed on the list. Joining Kassouf as one of the distinguished reporters include British sportswriter Anna Kessel, who co-founded Women in Football as a means to combat sexism in soccer.
Meanwhile, Cindy Parlow Cone — the first female president of US Soccer — and Ally Financial Chief Marketing and Public Relations officer Andrea Brimmer were honored as executives. Angel City FC co-founder Kara Nortman and Kansas City Current co-founder Angie Long are recognized in the club founders category. Rounding out the winners include former South African women’s national team manager Fran Hilton Smith and current Policy Advisor for the Office of Women Asma Mirzae who were acknowledged as activists.
“The winners work tirelessly to champion the women’s game, often in spite of great obstacles. Without the contributions of the 2022 honorees, the women’s game would not have the explosive growth that we’re seeing today. It is an honor to share and celebrate their extraordinary efforts with fans all over the world,” Susie Fiore, Head of the WICC, said in a statement.
Now in its third year of publishing and similar to previous editions, RSG once again produced an original short film on each WICC Best XI recipient, and from Nov. 8-18, will feature one Best XI honoree each day, sharing each individual’s story across social and digital channels, as well as on a dedicated page of the ICC website.
Universally hailed as one of the greatest African female footballers of all time (and she’s only 28!), striker Asisat Oshoala of Barcelona Femení has won the African Women’s Footballer of the Year a record five times (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2022). Her co-honoree in the athlete department, 17-year-old Colombian national team striker Linda Caicedo, made her professional debut at just 14 years of age and helped Deportivo Cali become champions of the Colombian Women’s Football League in 2021.
Alongside Chris Long and Brittany Mahomes, Angie Long reignited women’s soccer in Kansas City with the Current. Earlier this year, the NWSL club broke ground on a new stadium built specifically for a women’s pro soccer team. Nortman is a part of the first majority women-owned and led pro soccer club in the country; Angel City averaged 19,000 fans per game and sold $11 million in corporate partnerships in their first year.
The WICC Best IX is sponsored by Ally Financial. The honorees were voted on by an advisory board that included six previous WICC Best XI winners.
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