The fifth edition in its history, we are extremely excited to confirm our annual list of the top 30 players in the Scottish Women’s Premier League for 2025.
Scotland midfielder Kirsty McLean become the youngest winner of the award last year before bagging a move across the border to the Women’s Super League with Liverpool in the summer, meaning this year’s list has a new name at the top of the pile.
The second player to move to the English top tier immediately after winning this award, former Celtic’s centre-back Caitlin Hayes claimed the award in 2023 prior to her switch to Brighton, while Scotland centurion and Glasgow City legend Hayley Williams remains our only back-to-back winner, having claimed the honours in 2021 and 2022.
So how does the list work, you may ask? We ask a panel of 10 judges, including current and former SWPL players, coaches, experts, and journalists to name their 10 top best players in order from the top tier over the last 12.
Each judge is given the following rules for voting:
- Only one person per SWPL club can vote.
- Votes cannot include a player from their own club, to ensure choices are not guided by club or professional loyalties.
- The players chosen must be currently playing in the SWPL.
- Vote must remain anonymous.
From here, we used the metric that each player is awarded points for their ranking (ie: position one = 10 points, position two = 9 points, position three = 8 points etc.) we then add together the points from each vote to give us the definitive of the year’s best players in the SWPL.
Here is our annual list of the top 30 players in the Scottish Women's top tier for the year 2025 from position 30 to No 1.
1. 30: Linda Motlhalo - Glasgow City 🆕 (Last year: N/A)
Adored in her homeland of South Africa, Motlhalo was one of her country's star performers at the Women's World Cup in 2023. A move to Racing Louisville would follow, before she returned to Glasgow City just under a year ago. One of the league's best attacking midfielders and a former title winner with Glasgow City during her first stint at the club. | SNS Group Photo: SNS Group
2. 29: Lia Tweedie - Partick Thistle 🆕 (Last year: N/A)
A title winner with Hibs prior to her move Partick Thistle in the summer, the former Scotland youth international is a key figure for the Petershill Park outfit. | SNS Group Photo: SNS Group
3. 28: Bayley Hutchison - Hearts ⬇️ (Last year: 12th)
A lethal goal-scorer with Aberdeen in her teens, Hutchison has continued to find the net with Hearts, where she has bagged 24 league goals since moving to the capital 18 months ago. | SNS Group Photo: SNS Group
4. 27: Lisa Evans - Glasgow City ⬇️ (Last year: 6th)
A legend of the Scottish women's game, Evans returned to Glasgow City 18 months ago after winning trophy upon trophy with Bayern Munich and Arsenal. A Scotland centurion, she is a pivotal player for Leanne Ross' side with her marauding runs from right-back. On course to win a fifth SWPL title pf her career come May. | SNS Group Photo: SNS Group