Anja Mäkelä

A Finnish wall with blistering recovery pace, she glides across the pitch to snuff out attacks before strikers can even blink. Once, during a local winter league match, she calmly sprinted half the field in the snow just to retrieve a ball for a mascot before delivering a masterclass in defense. Despite her clinical blocks, she sometimes gets caught ball-watching when the game turns sluggish, momentarily losing the sharp edge that defines her otherwise flawless play.