While all teams and players were aiming to win the ultimate prize of the World Cup trophy in Australia and New Zealand, there were also a host of other trophies and individual awards on offer for performances in the tournament.
Some awards recognise the individual achievement's of certain players at both ends of the pitch, while others recognise other aspects of play.
FIFA has assembled a distinguished panel of former players and coaches to decide which players are worthy of many of the awards, with many players at the 2023 World Cup looking to join a famous list of past winners.
The Sporting News looks at the awards up for grabs, and how the winner for each is decided.
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What are the Women's World Cup awards?
There were nine awards on offer at the 2023 Women's World Cup, with eight going to individual players for their on the pitch achievements during the tournament, and one award given to one of the 32 participating nations.
Golden Ball
The Golden Ball is the award to the player adjudged to have been the best performer of all players at the tournament, a list of candidates is drawn up by the FIFA Study Group, with the winner being voted by a media vote. The 2023 prize was won by Spain star Aitana Bonmati.
These are the past winners of the award:
- 2023: Aitana Bonmati (Spain)
- 2019: Megan Rapinoe (USA)
- 2015: Carli Lloyd (USA)
- 2011: Homare Sawa (Japan)
- 2007: Marta (Brazil
- 2003: Birgit Prinz (Germany)
- 1999: Sun Wen: (China)
- 1995: Hege Riise (Norway)
- 1991: Carin Jennings (USA)
Silver Ball
The Silver Ball is awarded to the player who finishes second in the media voting for best player at the tournament, coming from the same shortlist as the Golden Ball winner.
- 2023: Jenni Hermoso (Spain)
- 2019: Lucy Bronze (England)
- 2015: Amandine Henry (France)
- 2011: Abby Wambach (USA)
- 2007: Birgit Prinz (Germany)
- 2003: Victoria Svensson (Sweden)
- 1999: Sissi (Brazil)
- 1995: Gro Espeseth (Norway)
- 1991: Michelle Akers (USA)
Bronze Ball
The Bronze Ball is given to the player who finishes third in the voting process of best overall player at the Women's World Cup. United States' Rose Lavelle won the award in 2019.
- 2023: Amanda Ilestedt (Sweden)
- 2019: Rose Lavelle (USA)
- 2015: Aya Miyama (Japan)
- 2011: Hope Solo (USA)
- 2007: Cristane (Brazil)
- 2003: Maren Meinert (Germany)
- 1999: Michelle Akers (USA)
- 1995: Ann Kristin Aarones (Norway)
- 1991: Linda Medalen (Norway)
Golden Boot
The Golden Boot award is given to the top scorer at the World Cup; if two players finish with the same number of goals, the player who has more assists in the tournament will be given the award.
The 2023 Golden Boot was won by Hinata Miyazawa of Japan, with six goals.
- 2023: Hinata Miyazawa, 6 goals (Japan)
- 2019: Megan Rapinoe, 6 goals (USA)
- 2015: Celia Sasic, 6 goals (Germany)
- 2011: Homare Sawa, 5 goals (Japan)
- 2007: Marta, 7 goals (Brazil)
- 2003: Birgit Prinz, 7 goals (Germany)
- 1999: Sun Wen (China) and Sissi (Brazil), 7 goals
- 1995: Ann Kristin Aarones, 6 goals (Norway)
- 1991: Michelle Akers, 10 goals (USA)
Silver Boot
The Silver Boot is the award given to the player with the second-most goals at the World Cup tournament; note the award was not given in 1999 due to the Golden Boot being shared.
- 2023: Kadidiatou Diani, 4 goals (France)
- 2019: Alex Morgan, 6 goals (USA)
- 2015: Carli Lloyd, 6 goals (USA)
- 2011: Marta, 4 goals (Brazil)
- 2007: Abby Wambach, 6 goals (USA)
- 2003: Maren Meinert, 4 goals (Germany)
- 1995: Hege Riise, 5 goals (Norway)
- 1991: Heidi Mohr, 7 goals (Germany)
Bronze Boot
The Bronze Boot is awarded to the player ranked third in the overall goalscoring list, with the same tiebreaker rules as the Golden Boot.
- 2023: Alexandra Popp, 4 goals (Germany)
- 2019: Ellen White, 6 goals (England)
- 2015: Anja Mittag, 5 goals (Germany)
- 2011: Abby Wambach, 4 goals (USA)
- 2007: Ragnhild Gulbrandsen, 6 goals (Norway)
- 2003: Katia, 4 goals (Brazil)
- 1999: Ann Kristin Aarones, 4 goals (Norway)
- 1995: Shi Guihong, 3 goals (China)
- 1991: Linda Medalen (Norway) and Carin Jennings (USA), 6 goals
Golden Glove
The Golden Glove award is given to the best performing goalkeeper at the tournament who keeps the most clean sheets (matches without conceding a goal), the award was first given at the 1999 World Cup.
England's Mary Earps won the prize at the 2023 World Cup.
- 2023: Mary Earps, 3 clean sheets (England)
- 2019: Sari van Veenendaal, 3 clean sheets (Netherlands)
- 2015: Hope Solo, 5 clean sheets (USA)
- 2011: Hope Solo, 2 clean sheets (USA)
- 2007: Nadine Angerer, 6 clean sheets (Germany)
- 2003: Silke Rottenberg, 2 clean sheets (Germany)
- 1999: Gao Hong (China) and Briana Scurry (USA), 4 clean sheets
FIFA Young Player Award
The FIFA Young Player award was first conceived in 2011, and is given to the best performing player at the tournament who is at most 21 – meaning players at the 2023 tournament must be born on or after January 1 2002 to be eligible for the award; the award is given by the FIFA Study Group.
The 2023 award went to Salma Paralluelo of Spain.
- 2023: Salma Paralluelo, 19 years old (Spain)
- 2019: Guila Gwinn, 20 years old (Germany)
- 2015: Kadeisha Buchanan, 19 years old (Canada)
- 2011: Caitlin Foord, 16 years old (Australia)
FIFA Fair Play Award
The FIFA Fair Play Award is given to the team who has demonstrated the best record of fair play throughout the tournament, meaning the side with the fewest yellow and red cards will receive the award. The winners receive the trophy, a diploma, a fair play medal for all players and coaches, and $50,000 worth of football equipment for youth development in the country.
Japan won the award in 2023.
- 2023: Japan
- 2019: France
- 2015: France
- 2011: Japan
- 2007: Norway
- 2003: China
- 1999: China
- 1995: Sweden
- 1991: Germany
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Who is on the FIFA Study Group?
Many of these awards are decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group, which is a collection of former notable players and coaches convened by FIFA to analyse all technical aspects of the tournament.
This year's Study Group is led by former USA and two-time World Cup winning coach Jill Ellis, and includes former World Cup winners such as Germany's Anja Mittag and Nadine Angerer.
According to FIFA, the group will focus on creating "a comprehensive breakdown of the technical, technical and physical action, as well as the identification of potential trends."
They will also create the shortlist that helps decide the winners of the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ball awards.