Despite achieving Olympic gold with the USWNT, an NWSL Championship, the NWSL MVP award, and the Golden Boot, Sophia Wilson has never managed to get her hands on the Ballon d’Or. Sure, she was also nominated for the Ballon d’Or in 2023 and came remarkably close in 2024, finishing fourth in the final voting. Yet with the prestigious individual honor still missing from her résumé, Wilson has now shared an honest take on the award and why she refuses to let it dictate her career.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
During a recent appearance on The RE-CAP Show with Tobin Heath and Christen Press, released on YouTube on September 3, Wilson was asked whether she truly did not care about the Ballon d’Or or whether her focus was simply on being the best player she could be. That distinction led Wilson to explain why the physical trophy has never been something she has needed to validate her career.
“I’ve never once cared about trophies or, like, the end goal,” Wilson said. “I feel like those are things that you can just stack in your closet.” Wilson acknowledged that the award carries enormous prestige as it is the biggest individual honor in soccer. However, she also pointed to one factor that shapes her view of it. “I would say it’s a very European-dominated award.”
Wilson’s comment also makes sense when you look at the Ballon d’Or’s history. Since the women’s award started in 2018, six of the seven winners have been European. Ada Hegerberg won the first one, followed by Spain’s Alexia Putellas in 2021 and 2022. Aitana Bonmatí then won it three times in a row from 2023 to 2025. However, the only non-European winner so far is American star Megan Rapinoe, who won in 2019.
“If I were to win that award, that’d be the coolest thing ever,” she said, acknowledging that there is arguably no higher individual achievement in soccer. But even with that admiration, Wilson does not want the Ballon d’Or to dictate where she lives or how she measures her happiness.
“I don’t put enough value in that to the point of lifting my whole life, moving it over, and being not happy,” she explained. “If that happens, it happens. If it doesn’t,” Wilson said.
For the USWNT star, being the best version of herself can mean something different from the definition attached to an individual award. While some may see success as being named the best player in the world, Wilson has a more personal standard.
“My version of it is I give everything that I have every day,” she said. “I feel happy in the person that I am and the player that I am, and, like, what more can I do?” That mindset is particularly striking given how much Wilson has already achieved.
Sophia Wilson’s rise to soccer stardom
Sophia Wilson’s rise in soccer began long before she became a star for the USWNT. She started playing at a very young age and developed through youth soccer in Colorado, representing Arsenal Colorado and later Real Colorado before heading to Stanford in 2018. Her talent was already clear on the international stage. In 2017, she was named U.S. Soccer’s Young Female Player of the Year. She went on to become a key figure for the U.S. U-20 team, finishing her time at that level with 23 goals in 27 appearances.
Wilson spent just two seasons at Stanford, but she made them count. In 2019, she helped the Cardinal win the NCAA national championship. Then in 2020, the Portland Thorns selected Wilson with the No. 1 overall pick in the NWSL Draft. Wilson’s list of achievements has continued to grow. She won the NWSL Championship with Portland in 2022 and was named both NWSL MVP and Championship MVP that same season. She also won U.S. Soccer’s Female Player of the Year award in 2022.
A year later, Wilson claimed the NWSL Golden Boot after scoring 11 goals and earned her first Ballon d’Or nomination. She was named to the NWSL Best XI in both 2023 and 2024, while her second consecutive Ballon d’Or nomination in 2024 ended with an impressive fourth-place finish.
On the international stage, Wilson added another major achievement in 2024 when she helped the USWNT win Olympic gold in Paris. She scored three goals and provided two assists during the tournament. Her achievements also include the 2021 NWSL Shield and Challenge Cup, the 2024 SheBelieves Cup MVP award, and, in 2022, becoming the first Black woman to win U.S. Soccer’s Female Player of the Year award.