Making the Case: Alyssa Thompson for Chipotle U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year

Following a whirlwind summer and fall in which she represented the United States at the Under-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica and then just weeks later made her debut for the U.S. Women’s National Team at Wembley Stadium, forward Alyssa Thompson has been nominated for the 2022 Chipotle U.S. Young Female Player of the Year award.

As the U.S. Women’s Youth National Team programming returned from its COVID-imposed hiatus, the criteria to be eligible for the 2022 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year returned: any player who played at least one full international match for any of the USA’s Women’s Youth National Teams is eligible for the award. With two Concacaf qualifying tournaments and both the FIFA U-17 and U-20 Women’s World Cups held in 2022, several excellent candidates emerged. Players can win the U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year Award only once.

• READ MORE: 2022 Young Female Player of the Year Nominees

While nominees for all awards are selected by U.S. Soccer’s technical staff, fans will once again have the opportunity to vote on select Player of the Year Awards, with the fan vote comprising 15% of the total vote. Voting for the awards starts Thursday, Dec. 15 at 11:00 a.m. ET and closes on Dec. 22 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The winners will be announced in the weeks that follow.

• VOTE NOW: Fan Voting for Player of the Year Awards

Making the Case for Alyssa Thompson for U.S. Soccer Chipotle Young Female Player of the Year:

• Thompson had eight U-20 caps in 2022 with four goals and was one of the standout players for the USA at the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in August in Costa Rica, where she had a goal and an assist.

• A dynamic winger who possesses tremendous speed and one-on-one abilities, Thompson also helped the USA win the 2022 Concacaf Women’s U-20 Championship while starting all seven games as the USA outscored its opposition 49-0, and is age-eligible for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

• Thompson, at the age of 17, received her first call-up to the senior National Team for the USA’s October trip to Europe for matches against England and Spain becoming the youngest player to be called up for a full National Team camp since 16-year-old Sophia Smith was called up in April of 2017 for a training camp.

• She memorably earned her first cap when she entered the match against England on Oct. 7 in the 84^th minute at just 17 years and 334 days old and became the 70th teenager all-time to earn a cap for the USWNT and the youngest player to debut for the USA since Mallory Pugh’s first appearance in January of 2016.

• Thompson earned her second cap against Spain on Oct. 11 and was called up for the November matches against Germany, where she celebrated her 18^th birthday.

 

"Since I started playing soccer, this is all I wanted to do."

Can you imagine a first cap coming at age 17, in front of 76,000+ fans at Wembley?

For Alyssa Thompson, that dream was a reality. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/jUeGUt8k60

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) October 14, 2022

 

• Thompson plays her club soccer for the U-17 Total Futbol Academy boys’ team in MLS NEXT and is the first player born in 2004 ever called up to the USWNT.

This is Thompson’s first nomination for Young Female Player of the Year.