10 years of NXGN: Top 10 success stories among women's football wonderkids

Included on the NXGN 2022 list, Esmee Brugts established herself as a regular in the Eredivisie with PSV as a 16-year-old and showed enough quality in her first two senior seasons to be included in the Netherlands' squad for the 2022 European Championship. Capable of playing across the front line, as a No.10, a wing-back or a full-back, her performances for club and country put her on the radar of Europe's top clubs and, after starring in all five of her country's games at the 2023 Women's World Cup, she would sign for Barcelona.

Despite being just 20 years old at that point, Brugts quickly established herself in Catalunya and helped Barca win an historic first quadruple on the women's side in her debut season. Now in her second year there, the young forward continues to be a marvel.

When Linda Caicedo was first named to the women's NXGN list back in 2020, she had only just celebrated her 15th birthday and, as such, was the youngest player included. As a 14-year-old, she had won the Golden Boot in the Colombian top-flight and led America de Cali to a first league title, before signing for bitter rivals Deportivo Cali in a transfer that was supposed to lead to a Barcelona move further down the line.

As it transpired, after starring for Colombia at a flurry of Under-17, U20 and senior national-team tournaments, the flying winger would actually join Barca's historic rivals, Real Madrid, after celebrating her 18th birthday. Caicedo is a star player for Las Blancas and has done some remarkable things for her country, stealing the show as they reached the Copa America final in 2022 and enjoyed a best-ever Women's World Cup run in 2023.

The NXGN 2022 winner, Melchie Dumornay was first included on a women's NXGN list back in 2020, having caught the eye in a number of CONCACAF youth tournaments. The versatile midfielder, who can also play in the front line, made her senior debut for Haiti in January 2020, aged 16, and would be on her way to Europe shortly after her 18th birthday.

Despite impressing Lyon, the eight-time Champions League winners, on a trial previously, and having dozens of suitors, it was Reims with whom Dumornay chose to take this next step of her career. A club with a fantastic reputation for developing young talent, the teenager would thrive under head coach Amandine Miquel and inevitably signed for Lyon, the team of her dreams, ahead of the 2023-24 season.

Now 21 years old, Dumornay is a key player for one of Europe's biggest clubs and has played in a Champions League final. More significant, though, have been her contributions for Haiti; the talented youngster helped her country qualify for a first Women's World Cup in 2023 and showcased her talents there to impress a whole new audience.

Named to the first women's NXGN list in 2020, Mary Fowler had already made her debut for Australia at that time, aged 15, and was included in the Matildas' squad for the 2019 Women's World Cup a year later. Following that tournament, she graced the domestic league for the first time, with Adelaide United, and impressed so quickly that she was on her way to Europe within just three months, signing for French club Montpellier.

Two years later, a switch to Manchester City beckoned, with her breaking through to become a first-team regular during the 2023-24 season. She remains key for the Cityzens today and holds perhaps an even greater status with her national team, whom she helped reach an Olympic semi-final in 2021 and, crucially, the last four of their home World Cup in 2023.

Maika Hamano has crossed paths with a lot of thriving NXGN alumni through the early stages of her career, such as Wieke Kaptein and Lauren James at Chelsea and Aoba Fujino and Toko Koga with the Japan national team. She has certainly put herself in the upper echelons of the success stories, though, with how she has quickly become an important player for club and country.

First included on the 2021 NXGN list, Hamano was playing in her homeland at the time, representing Cerezo Osaka Sakai before moving to INAC Kobe Leonessa later that year. By the end of 2022, after winning the Golden Ball at the U20 Women's World Cup, she was on her way to Europe, signing for Chelsea in the winter transfer window before joining Hammarby on loan for the 2023 season.

In Sweden, Hamano helped set her new team on their way to a league title and won the cup, went to the World Cup with Japan at the midway point of the season, then went back to England to make her mark at Chelsea, coming up with some big contributions in the latter half of the 2023-24 campaign as the Blues won another Women's Super League trophy. In her second year in London, the versatile forward is now an increasingly important member of one of the best club teams in the world.

There are two current Lionesses among NXGN alumni, and while Maya Le Tissier, a member of the 2021 class, has gone on to become a senior international and the Manchester United captain, it is Lauren James who is England's stand-out representative from previous editions. Part of a star-studded 2020 list, James was with the Red Devils at the time and secured a then-British record transfer to Chelsea a year later.

After getting on top of some niggling injuries, the electric forward has since become a talismanic figure in London, helping the Blues to win six major honours to date. James has exploded onto the international scene, too, taking the 2023 Women's World Cup by storm on her way to becoming an integral member of Sarina Wiegman's side.

The first-ever women's NXGN winner, Lena Oberdorf had already achieved great things when she received that award back in 2020. A member of Germany's 2019 Women's World Cup squad at the age of 17, the versatile defensive talent would become the youngest player in tournament history when she played in the team's first game.

A year later, Oberdorf got her first big move, leaving Essen to join two-time European champions Wolfsburg. Germany's dominant force at the time, she helped the team win five major titles and reach another Champions League final before moving to Bayern Munich in the summer of 2024.

Oberdorf has also become a key player for Germany and was outstanding at the 2022 European Championships, named Young Player of the Tournament after helping Martina Voss-Tecklenburg's side reach the final. Right now, she is recovering from a devastating ACL injury which ruled her out of her country's bronze medal-winning Olympic campaign, but could return in time to play a role at Euro 2025.

Another inclusion on that first NXGN list back in 2020, Claudia Pina is one of many talents that Barcelona have helped develop through their youth system over the years, with her senior debut in early 2018 coming after five years with the club. At 16 years and five months, she was the youngest Barca player ever at the time.

After a fruitful loan spell with Sevilla in the 2020-21 season, Pina broke through in Catalunya the following year, scoring 18 goals in all competitions as Barca won a first Women's Champions League title. She has remained a valuable member of a star-studded squad ever since, surpassing 150 appearances earlier this season, and has played an important role in the club's rise to the top of the women's game.

Things have not been as straight-forward at international level. Pina debuted for Spain back in 2021, shortly before her 20th birthday, but was one of the 15 players who made themselves unavailable for national-team selection little over a year later, in a bid to improve conditions. While several of her fellow pros returned before the 2023 Women's World Cup, or 2024 Olympic Games, Pina stayed away, thus missing out on La Roja's historic triumph at the former. She did end that two-year absence in November and, after scoring in each of her first three games back, looks set to be an important player moving forward.

There are several members of the NXGN alumni who have since become senior internationals for the United States, including Alyssa Thompson, younger sister Gisele and Lily Yohannes. Jaedyn Shaw, though, has most firmly established herself in one of the best national teams in the world since her inclusion on the 2023 list, helping Emma Hayes' side to win Olympic gold last summer.

Shaw was limited by injuries in that tournament, but she has shown her talent in plenty of other moments, too, such as at the CONCACAF W Gold Cup a few months prior, when she won the Golden Ball. A key player for the San Diego Wave side which won the 2023 NWSL Shield, earning her a nomination to the league's best XI, and the 2024 Challenge Cup, the versatile forward has certainly made her mark on big stages already.

Tarciane was just 16 years old when she started to make waves in the senior game, at Fluminense. Within two years, the promising young centre-back had signed for Corinthians, the dominant power in Brazilian women's football, and she would win everything possible with the club, including two Copa Libertadores titles.

A senior Brazil debut quickly followed, when she was still only 19 years old, and things dramatically took off from there. In 2023, she was a starter in all three of her country's games at the Women's World Cup; in 2024, she signed for the Houston Dash in the NWSL and starred as Brazil won an Olympic silver medal; and in 2025, she became the second-most expensive women's footballer of all time when she signed for Lyon.