Following a victory for either Japan or USA in the FIFA 2015 Women’s World Cup final, there will be three other pieces of silverware up for grabs as the talents of individual players will be recognised in the Golden Ball award, the Golden Glove award and the Young Player award.
Golden Ball
The Golden Ball award is an acknowledgement for the tournament’s all round best player. There is also a Silver and Bronze Ball award for second and third place. Previous winners include the legendary Homare Sawa and Marta. This year’s nominees are:
Saori Ariyoshi (JPN)
Lucy Bronze (ENG)
Amandine Henry (FRA)
Julie Johnston (USA)
Carli Lloyd (USA)
Aya Miyama (JPN)
Megan Rapinoe (USA)
Celia Sasic (GER)
Golden Glove
This award is for the tournament’s best goalkeeping performance and this year will be contested between Nadine Angerer of Germany, Ayumi Kaihori of Japan and Hope Solo of Team USA, who have kept 8 clean sheets between them.
Young Player
The best footballer aged under 20 years of age is awarded this honour and this year’s nominees are Kadeisha Buchanan of Canada, Ada Hegerberg of Norway and Jiali Tang of China.
All the winners are decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group (TSG) who will also give out awards to the tournament’s top goal scorers. Celia Sasic of Germany is currently in the running for the Golden Boot award with 6 goals, followed by teammate Anja Mittag on 5. With several players on three goals and in the running for the Bronze Boot, a goal for USA’s Carli Lloyd in the final would see her break away from the crowd on 4. One squad will also win the FIFA Fair Play trophy.
