Our 2024/25 WSL Team of the Season
We’ve wrote about our eleven players who have made our team of the season and given our reasons as to why we have chosen them.
With the season all done and dusted we now get the chance to reflect on teams and players performances over the last eight months of this 2024/25 season, and while Chelsea won the title in incredible fashion having this unbeaten campaign, we have managed to find a decent mix of clubs in terms of our player choices.
It was a pretty good season as well for a couple of Lionesses who have made it into our team and a few players who were in their debut seasons in the WSL and definitely impressed at their respective clubs.
So let’s get into the picks we have made then and if you would like as well, you can tell us your WSL team of the season for 2024/2025 in our comments section below ⬇️
Honourable Mentions
Let’s begin though with a few honourable mentions that haven’t made it into our team first of all. There are a few names that we would like to highlight starting with Manchester City’s Mary Fowler, who had a great season at her club before sustaining an ACL injury that ended her campaign. Another City name who could have been considered was Yui Hasegawa in the midfield.
In terms of other forwards and midfielders, Aggie Beever-Jones had a stellar season at Chelsea, as did Elisabeth Terland in her debut season with Manchester United, tying with Viviane Asseyi for most goal contributions overall. Asseyi could have been picked as well for her season with West Ham.
As for defenders, two names that stick out but don’t make it in are Jayde Riviere and Sara Holmgaard, who both have impressed at times in their respective full-back positions. Nathalie Björn would be another centre-back choice for us as well given she really stepped up well for Chelsea when called upon at times.
Goalkeeper - Phallon Tullis-Joyce
Onto the main XI then and for goalkeeper, it kind of has to be Manchester United’s Phallon Tullis-Joyce. While she did end up sharing the Golden Glove in the end with Chelsea’s Hannah Hampton, she has still deserved to be recognised as the best keeper in the league this season because of how crucial she has been for United in goal. 16 league goals have gone past her - the second least amount in the league and a 59.1 % clean sheet percentage for the season.
She proved she was able to step up and replace Mary Earps, having played every single minute for Manchester United in this campaign and pulled off many incredible saves over that time. Playing a pivotal role alongside other defensive-minded players in the club’s improvement to a third-place finish. (Brad)
Defender - Lucy Bronze
After joining the club in the summer from Barcelona, Bronze slotted into the full-back position at Chelsea with ease playing in 19 of their 22 games in their unbeaten season. There were a lot of thoughts at the beginning on whether she would still be able to perform as one of the world’s best, but she definitely proved any doubters wrong.
The 33-year-old was ranked inside the top 10 for passes into the final third and for passes + crosses into the penalty area, showcasing why she has been so successful on the attacking side of things for many years now. Defensively, she ranked second in interceptions with 42 across the season and won 38 aerial duals. Crucially for Chelsea she scored the only goal against Manchester United to help the club win a sixth consecutive WSL title. (Regan)
Defender - Maya Le Tissier
The Manchester United captain played every minute of league football for the Red Devils in her first season as club captain and her second consecutive season with the club. The English defender was absolutely solid at the back, standing out as one of the best performers in her position in a season in which United had the second-best defensive record behind Chelsea.
Le Tissier finished inside the top 10 for clearances with 101, which was tied with fellow TOTS inclusion Millie Bright. She also ranks inside the top ten for aerials won, just one behind CB partner Millie Turner, another reason as to why Manchester United were so hard to break down this season. It felt like she went to another level in this campaign and to do so while taking on the pressure of being club captain at just 22-years-old is certainly commendable. (Regan)
Defender - Millie Bright
Chelsea’s captain makes our TOTS after a very good campaign and it was a nice thing to see her play a first full year since suffering a lot of setbacks due to injury troubles in previous seasons. She put in so many big performances as part of this dominant Chelsea side and showed massive amounts of leadership quality that we have come to expect of her.
She finished in the top 10 for interceptions (30) and clearances (101), doing well to make sure that she is there to stop other teams’ attacks in vital moments and because of the history-making season which Chelsea have had, it’s hard not to include her. (Brad)
Defender - Sandy Baltimore
Chelsea’s French international has been one of the signings of the season and yet dare we say, a little underrated to begin the campaign as well. It felt like her performances had gone under the radar in a way and while she joined the club as a midfielder, for a lot of time this season we have seen her operate at left-back to great effect when Niamh Charles had been injured.
We saw Sandy Baltimore score a few vital quality goals for Chelsea over the season as well as she showed that while she did have to play further back, it didn’t stifle her creative abilities. It makes you wonder if long-term she could feature further forward but for this season, she shone more at full-back and that’s why she is included there. (Brad)
Midfielder - Erin Cuthbert
The Scottish midfielder was so key for Chelsea this season and whilst she may not appear in a lot of the top ten’s for statistics this season those who watched how they played could see how pivotal she was to their midfield. When playing, she always seemed in control and played key passes that benefited Chelsea’s attacking play and often was the first point of call for the defenders when they were playing the ball out from the back.
When Cuthbert wasn’t playing, it seemed that Chelsea were missing something in those games and they did struggle somewhat without her. She managed to score four goals this season for Chelsea and win her eighth WSL title whilst being at the club. (Regan)
Midfielder - Grace Clinton
There was so much intrigue around Grace Clinton last summer and whether we would see her thrive at Manchester United in the same way she had done in the 23/24 season at Tottenham on loan. Well, any question was answered quite quickly and what a good season it ended up being for the Lionesses midfielder as she played a part in United’s Champions League qualification.
Her first half of the season saw her impress on the goal front as she scored most of her eight goals for this campaign in that timeframe. She stepped up to the test brilliantly and worked well also in the gritty side of things in terms of midfield, making the second most tackles out of anybody with 86 in total. She was very good in and out of possession for United, which helped her make her mark and you can see her only getting better as well as her career goes on. (Brad)
Midfielder - Mariona Caldentey
Another top-class signing that was made this season and it has been a joy to watch somebody like Mariona Caldentey thrive in a new league and justify how good of a player she truly is. Moving to Arsenal allowed her to stand out and shine at a different team to Barcelona and if you look into her stats this season, it’s amazing how well she has performed and that isn’t even just on the attacking side of things.
She ranked amongst the top five in terms of possession won, ranked high in most combined tackles + interceptions and made 50 more progressive passes than anybody else in the WSL this season. The 29-year-old has been so good and that has happened while also showing a lot of versatility in being able to play wide left at times and also as a number 10. For me, she deserves to be recognised as the overall player of the season given the incredible impact she has had at Arsenal. (Brad)
Forward - Olivia Smith
In her first season in the WSL, it’s safe to say Olivia Smith has taken to life in the WSL fairly well. Joining for a club-record fee from Sporting CP, the Canadian settled into Merseyside really well and has started repaying her fee back with some brilliant standout performances and being able to terrorise defenders.
During this season, Smith was the second-most-fouled player in the league which shows that defenders struggled to keep up with her skill and pace, causing them headaches all season long. She was also second in successful take-ons, only one behind Yui Hasegawa of Manchester City. At just 20-years-old, scoring 7 goals in your debut season in a new country is nothing short of impressive and whatever happens with Liverpool next season, they have to keep Smith at the club and utilise her talents. (Regan)
Forward - Alessia Russo
What a second season it was for Alessia Russo, the Arsenal forward seemed so much more confident in her overall play this season and it showed despite it taking a bit of time early on to get amongst the goals. However when she did so, she became a crucial part of Arsenal’s season. She ended the campaign as joint-top scorer in the league with 12 goals, including a run of six consecutive games, which was more than her expected goals of 9.5 which ranked second in the WSL.
The English forward finished with the most shots in the league (72) for the second consecutive season and most shots on target (32). Russo was also named the Football Writers Association Women’s Player of the Year for the 2024/25 season. Heading into her third season and first full one under Renee Slegers, the expectation is that we should see better numbers in the 2025/26 campaign. (Regan)
Forward - Shekiera Martinez
On a podcast at some point earlier this year, I had identified Shekiera Martinez being somebody who could have an impact for West Ham and help them to have a better second half of the campaign, given how she had done well at Freiburg on loan for the first half of this season. Well I don’t think many expected her to have the kind of impact that she ended up making, which helped West Ham to avoid being in a relegation battle and finish on their best points total since 2021/22.
10 goals in 12 games is the kind of return you expect of a top-level striker in this league, but to do so with West Ham is definitely incredible and how remarkable is it that she nearly won the Golden Boot having had a few months less than other players to achieve that. She won the Rising Star award at the Women’s Professional Game Awards recently and I think it is safe to say that what she has done in these last five months could only be the beginning for the 23-year-old German forward. (Brad)
