World champions
Lauren Holiday,
Carli Lloyd,
Megan Rapinoe,
Becky Sauerbrunn and
Hope Solo are the nominees for 2015 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year. Lloyd is
also a finalist for the FIFA Women's Player of the Year.
She won the Golden Ball as the best player at the 2015 Women's World Cup, while Solo won the Golden Glove as the top goalkeeper.
Lloyd, Solo and Sauerbrunn played every minute of the tournament.
Holiday, who played her final game for the USA on Oct. 25, was the U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year in 2014, while
Solo won in 2009 and Lloyd in 2008.
Abby Wambach, who will retire after
Wednesday's USA-China game, holds the record for most Female Player of the Year awards with six
honors (2003, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2013). Her win in 2013 broke the previous record of five held by
Mia Hamm.
The winner will be announced during the pre-game coverage of
USA-China game from New Orleans on Fox Sports 1.
Clint Dempsey (2007, 2011, 2012) is the only former winner nominated for the 2015 U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year. This year's
field also features
Michael Bradley,
Brad Guzan,
Fabian Johnson and
DeAndre Yedlin.
Landon Donovan holds the record for most Male Player of the Year
awards with four honors (2003, 2004, 2009, 2010).
Nominees for Young Male Player of the Year are U.S. U-20s
Cameron Carter-Vickers,
Matt Miazga, Emerson Hyndman and
Gedion Zelalem and U.S. U-17
Christian Pulisic. Hyndman and Pulisic were also nominated for the award in 2014.
Young Female Player of the Year nominees are midfielders
Savannah DeMelo,
Samantha Mewis and
Brianna Pinto and forwards
Mallory Pugh and
Ashley Sanchez. This is the second and third-straight nomination for Mewis and Pugh,
respectively.
The Disabled Player of the Year nominees are
Adam Ballou and
Kevin Hensley of the U.S. Paralympic National Team and
Nicolai Calabria and
Noah Grove
of the U.S. National Amputee Soccer Team.
Winners for all these other categories will be announced Friday.
How could you give the US Soccer Female Player of the Year to anybody besides Carli Lloyd? She and American Pharaoh should be the top candidates for Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year, or in their cases, Sportswoman of the Year and Sportshorse of the Year.