Commonwealth Bank Matildas skipper Sam Kerr has been announced as one of 20 nominees for the 2021 Ballon d'Or award.
The Ballon d'Or made its return after a one-year absence due to COVID-19 and Sam Kerr has graced the shortlist for the third time.
Kerr and her star-studded team at Chelsea make up five of the 20 nominees, where she is flanked by strike partner Fran Kirby along with Pernille Harder, Magdalena Eriksson and Jessie Fleming.
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Since joining the Blues, Kerr has won five titles and was Chelsea's top goalscorer from the 2020/21 season, scoring 21 goals from 22 games to secure the WSL Golden Boot.
She is also the first player to ever win the golden boot across three different leagues and recently captained the Commonwealth Bank Matildas to their best-ever Olympic placing, when they finished fourth at Tokyo 2020.
Kerr recently reached her 100th cap in the Green and Gold, where family, teammates and fans joined together to celebrate the impact she has had on the game so far.
In just the third year of the women's edition of the award, past winners were Ada Hegerberg in 2018 and Megan Rapinoe in 2019.
The full list of women's nominees for the 2021 Ballon d'Or award are:
| Alexia Putellas | Barcelona, Spain |
| Magdalena Eriksson | Chelsea, Sweden |
| Marie-Antoinette Katoto | PSG, France |
| Sam Kerr | Chelsea, Australia |
| Stina Blackstenius | Hacken, Sweden |
| Wendie Renard | Lyon, France |
| Samantha Mewis | North Carolina Courage, USA |
| Pernille Harder | Chelsea, Denmark |
| Vivianne Miedema | Arsenal, Netherlands |
| Sandra Panos | Barcelona, Spain |
| Lieke Martens | Barcelona, Netherlands |
| Jessie Fleming | Chelsea, Canada |
| Irene Paredes | Barcelona, Spain |
| Ashley Lawrence | PSG, Canada |
| Christine Sinclair | Portland Thorns, Canada |
| Ellen White | Man City, England |
| Christiane Endler | Lyon, Chile |
| Jennifer Hermoso | Barcelona, Spain |
| Fran Kirby | Chelsea, England |
| Kadidiatou Diani | PSG, France |
