Khadija Shaw has won the WSL Golden Boot three times since 2023. That sentence alone tells you almost everything about this women's football season — but there's a lot more to unpack.
With the Champions League final between Barcelona and OL Lyonnes still to come in Oslo, and Brighton facing Manchester City in the Women's FA Cup final on May 31, the 2025-26 campaign is nearly done. And the individual honours paint a clear picture: Manchester City dominated English football, while Europe belongs to whoever wins that final.
City's season deserves more than a trophy cabinet photo
Shaw's WSL Player of the Season award is the headline, but Andree Jeglertz winning Manager of the Season is arguably the more telling story. Few expected the Swedish coach — whatever his two decades of elite experience — to reshape City so quickly, or so completely. He brought boys from City Football Group into training sessions. Made analysis collaborative rather than top-down. Shifted the team's mentality at a structural level. City hadn't won the WSL in ten years. They won it, and won it convincingly.
Shaw finished with 21 league goals, 25 goal involvements total, and the fastest hat-trick in WSL history — 12 minutes 37 seconds against Spurs in March. The argument that prolific No. 9s are one-dimensional doesn't hold here. Her hold-up play, link-up work and pressing have all stepped up this season. She's become the complete forward she was always promising to be, and anyone pricing WSL top scorer markets next season should start their shortlist with her name.
Young Player of the Season went to City's Aoba Fujino — a pick that would have surprised most at the start of the campaign. The 22-year-old Japanese winger stepped in seamlessly while Kerolin, Mary Fowler and Lauren Hemp recovered from injuries, contributing five goals and three assists in 15 appearances. She earned her place in the starting XI on merit, not circumstance.
The European picture: Giraldez's revenge game
Melchie Dumornay takes European Player of the Season, and Lyon's semi-final second leg against Arsenal shows exactly why. Dumornay missed the first leg through injury — Lyon looked flat without her. She returned for the second, won the early penalty, set up the winning goal for Jule Brand, and ran Arsenal ragged. The 22-year-old Haitian has evolved beyond her finishing into something harder to defend: a midfielder who makes everyone around her better and disrupts transitions in both directions.
Vicky Lopez claiming Young European Player of the Season at Barcelona is a generational marker. Breaking into Barca's midfield — home to the last two Ballon d'Or winners in Putellas and Bonmatí — is not something you do on potential alone. When Bonmatí fractured her fibula, Lopez stepped in. She did the same at the European Championship when Bonmatí contracted meningitis. She won the Kopa Trophy in September 2025. At 19, she's not a prospect anymore.
And then there's the final itself. Jonatan Giraldez won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2024 — his last act before leaving for Washington Spirit and then Lyon. Now he leads Lyon into a final against his former club. The last time these two met in a Champions League final, he was on the Barcelona bench. This time, he's on the opposite side. Lyon have already won the Coupe de France Féminine and the Coupe LFFP this season under him. One more trophy would make this a remarkable first European campaign with the French giants.
Barcelona vs Lyon in Oslo. The two best women's club sides on the continent. Giraldez against his old team. If you're looking for a match to watch this weekend, the answer is obvious.
