There are fewer Asian players on this year’s “The 100 best female footballers in the world 2020” list, with none from China. The list, which is co-produced by The Guardian and The Offside Rule podcast, features only three Asian footballers among the top 100 this year, down from five in 2019. Japan’s Saki Kumagai was named as the 11th best player on the planet this year – the highest ever ranking for an Asian footballer and up from her previous best of 31 last year. The Lyon midfielder scored the same number of points as the list’s 10th ranked player, her clubmate Delphine Cascarino, and unlucky to miss out on a first top 10 appearance. First Non-British woman to reach 100 appearances in Barclays Women's Super League. JI SO-YUN #CFCW pic.twitter.com/am6EJsciHX — CHELSEA WOMEN TEAM (@Chelseawomen_) December 7, 2020 The 30-year-old scored in the final as Lyon maintained their stranglehold on the Uefa Women’s Champions League. Kumagai is joined by South Korea and Chelsea midfielder Ji So-yun in 16th, up from 58th last year. Ji is one of 11 Chelsea players on the list, including Pernille Harder in top spot. Wang Shuang dedicates Wuhan’s CWSL title to Covid-19 medical workers The only other Asian player in this year’s top 100 is Kumi Yokoyama of Japan and Washington Spirit. Yokoyama is a re-entry this year having missed out on the 2019 list. Last year there five Asian players on the list: Kumagai (31), Yuki Nagasato (40), Ji (58), Mana Iwabuchi (70) and Yuika Sagasawa (93). The 2018 list – the first published in conjunction with The Guardian since The Offside Rule began it in 2016 – featured six Asian players, including the last Chinese entry. Off to a good start in the CL. Nice to be back pic.twitter.com/ClrbpHqlU7 — Pernille Harder (@PernilleMHarder) December 9, 2020 Kumagai was once again top in 18th place, Ji followed in 41 before the Japanese trio of Iwabuchi (62), Nahomi Kuwasami (89) and Nagasato (96). China’s Wang Shuang was ranked at 97. The Paris Saint-Germain forward returned to the list after missing out in 2017 but dropped from her rank of 87 on the original edition. Wang, who returned to China to prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, had a strange year. Wang Shuang rejoins China squad after Wuhan lock down ends The Wuhan native was locked down in her hometown from January as it battled the earliest outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. That was why she missed out on China’s troubled Tokyo Olympics qualifying trip to Australia, where her teammates had to train in hotel corridors during quarantine. Still, Wang won the Chinese Women’s Super League with Wuhan Jianghan University in a format that was restructured for Covid-19. The Wuhan side topped the regular season table and then beat Jiangsu in the final of the championship stage, winning 4-0 behind closed doors in October before dedicating the title to the Covid-19 medical workers. Jiangsu’s Malawi international striker Tabitha Chawinga was the only player from the CWSL to make the top 100 this year, rounding out the list after dropping from 95 last year. In contrast, there were 28 players from England’s Women’s Super League, 20 from France’s Division 1 Feminine and 15 from Germany’s Women’s Bundesliga, while the highest non-European league representation was the NWSL in the US with 13 – down from its top-ranked 29 players last year. Chawinga was close to being joined by another CWSL player this year in Shanghai Shengli’s Zambia international Barbra Banda, who finished 103rd on the vote. Last year Chawinga was the sole CWSL representative on the list, down from three in 2019: Cristiane (52), Chawinga (71) and Asisat Oshoala (86). Coach Rambo stays positive as Hong Kong women’s football toughs it out While Chawinga remains at Jiangsu, Nigeria striker Oshoala now plays at Barcelona and Cristiane is at Santos in her native Brazil. Oshoala, ranked at 33, and Cristiane (98) are the only former CWSL players on this year’s list. There have been several notable absentees this year, with Megan Rapinoe not featuring on the list. The US women’s national team star has not played since scoring against Japan on March 25 in the SheBelieves Cup. Rapinoe decided not to rejoin the USWL in its Covid-19 bubble. The situation was mentioned by the judges, who described it as a “turbulent year”. “There were some tough decisions to be made this year off the back of such a hole in the women’s football calendar, with Europe less affected in the timescale of games we take into account when judging the top 100,” wrote judge Rich Laverty in The Guardian .