Gotham FC duo Ann-Katrin Berger, Rose Lavelle up for Ballon d'Or recognition

Gotham FC has two players in the running for some of the most prestigious individual awards in soccer, as midfielder Rose Lavelle and goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger are each up for Ballon d'Or honors.

Lavelle is up for the biggest women's prize, the women's Ballon d'Or, one of 30 players nominated. Lavelle is the only American in that 30-player field, and she's one of four active NWSL players nominated — along with Barbra Banda of Orlando Pride, Temwa Chawinga of KC Current, and Lorena also of KC Current. This is the second time Lavelle has been shortlisted for Ballon d'Or, after she was also a nominee in 2019 when she was with the Washington Spirit.

Aitana Bonmatí of FC Barcelona won the last three consecutive women's Ballon d'Or awards but wasn't among the nominees this year after missing five months while recovering from a leg fracture suffered late last year.

The one and only American to ever win the women's Ballon d'Or was Megan Rapinoe in 2019, the second year the award was ever given out to a woman. Rapinoe remains the only player not from Europe to win, as well as the only player to not have been playing in Europe at the time of their Ballon d'Or honor.

Lavelle might face long odds while up for the big prize, but she isn't the only American in the overall field of nominees. One fellow United States women's national team member is up for Women's Young Talent of the Year: Lily Yohannes of OL Lyonnes in France.

Gotham's other nominee is goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, who is nominated for Women's Goalkeeper of the Year for a second straight time. Berger missed out on the Yashin Trophy in 2025 when she finished second in the voting and the award went to Hannah Hampton of England and Chelsea FC.

Hampton and Berger are both nominated once again, as is Cata Coll of Spain and FC Barcelona, all three becoming back-to-back nominees. Newcomers in the goalkeeper field include Lorena of Brazil and KC Current, plus Ayaka Yamashita of Japan and Manchester City FC.

Berger is in the midst of another dominant season with Gotham in 2026, with 12 clean sheets in 24 appearances across all competitions so far this year, and fresh off being named to the NWSL Best XI of the Month for August. She's done it for Germany, too, named 2025 German Female Player of the Year for her efforts for club and country, which included leading Gotham to the 2025 NWSL Championship.

Lavelle isn't too different, as she scored the winning goal to deliver that 2025 NWSL Championship for Gotham, and got named 2025 Female Player of the Year by US Soccer. The standout performances for Lavelle reportedly have her signing a lucrative new contract extension with Gotham (one that's yet to be announced officially), and she now joins a short, exclusive list of Americans to get Ballon d'Or consideration.

While Gotham is well-represented in the form of Berger and Lavelle, the club itself missed out on getting nominated for Women's Club of the Year, despite winning a second NWSL Championship in three years. Instead, the only nomination for a women's club in North America went to Club América of Mexico, a team that comfortably defeated Gotham 4-1 during the semifinals of the Concacaf W Champions Cup played back in May. América is the first club outside of either Europe or the United States to earn a nomination.

Club América followed up its win over Gotham by beating Washington Spirit in the W Champions Cup final to lift the continental trophy for the first time, while Gotham also lost the third-place game against Pachuca, which may have all ended up costing the Bats a chance to get some international recognition as one of the top women's teams on the planet.

Gotham will instead have to settle for chasing another NWSL Championship and possibly a first-ever NWSL Shield, months after they added the NWSL Challenge Cup to the club's trophy cabinet for the first time. Ballon d'Or will have to wait, but maybe this will be the year AKB gets the recognition she deserves for being one of the absolute best keepers in the sport.