Here is a paraphrased version of the article without an introduction:
A panel of 127 international experts, comprising players, coaches, and journalists, has compiled the definitive list of the world's top 100 female footballers for 2025. The judges were asked to choose their top 40 picks and rank them in order from best to worst. Each player was awarded a score based on their ranking: the number one choice received 40 points, the second choice scored 39 points, and so on.
To ensure transparency and prevent bias, individual voting records are anonymized, with judges identified only by category and a random number. The highest score given to a player is then deducted from their total to produce a final score. This methodology aims to minimize the influence of outliers on the list.
For the first time this year, the Guardian has made all 104,140 votes available for public inspection. Fans can now see how many points separated Chloe Kelly in 11th place from Caroline Graham Hansen in 12th position, and how many judges chose Lia Wälti, who narrowly missed out on a spot in the top 100.
The list also includes other notable players like Rachel Daly, Mary Fowler, Becky Sauerbrunn, Pernille Harder, and Wendie Renard, among many others.
A panel of 127 international experts, comprising players, coaches, and journalists, has compiled the definitive list of the world's top 100 female footballers for 2025. The judges were asked to choose their top 40 picks and rank them in order from best to worst. Each player was awarded a score based on their ranking: the number one choice received 40 points, the second choice scored 39 points, and so on.
To ensure transparency and prevent bias, individual voting records are anonymized, with judges identified only by category and a random number. The highest score given to a player is then deducted from their total to produce a final score. This methodology aims to minimize the influence of outliers on the list.
For the first time this year, the Guardian has made all 104,140 votes available for public inspection. Fans can now see how many points separated Chloe Kelly in 11th place from Caroline Graham Hansen in 12th position, and how many judges chose Lia Wälti, who narrowly missed out on a spot in the top 100.
The list also includes other notable players like Rachel Daly, Mary Fowler, Becky Sauerbrunn, Pernille Harder, and Wendie Renard, among many others.
. I mean, Chloe Kelly in 11th place from Caroline Graham Hansen in 12th position is like only 1 point difference 
. That's so close! And Lia Wälti getting just a few less points than some other players is pretty frustrating 
. I guess it shows that the judges really took their time to think about this... or maybe they were all having different opinions on the same players lol? It's actually kinda interesting to see how they did, though.
It's awesome that they're making the full vote count public now - it's gonna be so interesting to see how some of these players really stacked up against each other. Like, Chloe Kelly in 11th and Caroline Graham Hansen in 12th is a big drop off... 
what was going on there? 
I'm loving this new transparency from The Guardian about the voting process for the top 100 female footballers 
. It's so refreshing to see the numbers behind the rankings, like how Chloe Kelly is just a few points ahead of Caroline Graham Hansen 
. And wow, Lia Wälti was super close! 
This tells me that there are some amazing players out there who are being recognized for their skills and dedication to the sport. I think it's awesome that we can finally see exactly how each player scored 
. I still don't get why we need so many experts, can't just let fans pick their own faves 
?
! It's totally awesome that we can see how close each player was to the top spot - like, did you know Chloe Kelly was only 1 point behind Caroline Graham Hansen? 
and why did Lia Wälti miss out on the top 100 tho? was it just one vote short? 
how do they even narrow it down to just 100 tho? and i love that they're being transparent about the voting process, makes sense why individual votes aren't shown tho - gotta prevent bias right? so Chloe Kelly was like 11th and Caroline Graham Hansen was 12th by only one point 
what's going on with Lia Wälti though? narrowly missed out but still on the list? seems like she had a lot of judges rooting for her 
. Maybe next year she'll make it to the top 100 
.
I'm curious to see if it impacts how fans react to the list. All these talented ladies on that list though... gotta give it up for Chloe Kelly and Caroline Graham Hansen holding it down 
i was watching the euros last month and chloe kelly is literally so good! i'm guessing she must have made it into the top 100 lol. can anyone tell me more about Lia wälti tho? who's becky sauerbrunn??
! The way they've implemented a transparent voting system with an anonymized record of individual votes is just genius 
. I mean, who doesn't love a good puzzle? It's amazing how the methodology aims to minimize outliers' influence on the list – it just shows that these experts are willing to go the extra mile to get it right 
.
. And I'm loving the idea that fans can now see how close or far apart these players are from each other – it adds this whole new layer of excitement and engagement to the whole experience 
. I mean, who really cares about the number of points separating these players? It's still going to be subjective, if you ask me. And what's with the weird scoring system anyway? 40 points for the top pick? That's way too generous. I'm sure there are plenty of players who got lucky and somehow made it into the top 100 just because their team won a tournament or something 
.
... now we can see every single one of those 'expert' judges' "thought process" 
. Like, what even is the point of knowing how close someone came to getting on the list? It's just gonna give us a bunch of tiny stats that don't really tell us anything about the actual players 
? It's all just a bunch of self-congratulatory nonsense 
. And don't even get me started on the fact that Lia Wälti only missed out by "a hair" 
. If the goal is to keep things fair, then why not implement some kind of system to flag suspiciously high or low scores?
. But overall, I think this list is gonna be super helpful for fans and players alike to see who's on fire this season 
️.