Music and soccer go together like cleats and grass. If you’ve ever wondered what’s playing in the earphones of your favourite female footballers before a big match, you’re in the right place.
Today, I’m covering the best artists female soccer players love from Afrobeats to pop, hip-hop to R&B for every mood, every vibe, and every pre-match feeling you can think of.
Let’s get into it.
1. Burna Boy
Burna Boy is one of the biggest names coming out of Africa right now. The Nigerian superstar blends Afrobeats, reggae, and dancehall into a sound that feels both relaxed and powerful at the same time.
Songs like Last Last, Ye, and On the Low have a way of hitting differently depending on where your head is at. Some days, Last Last feels like a whole therapy session. Other days, Ye just makes you want to move.
Nigerian striker Asisat Oshoala is a known fan, and you couldn’t script a better match. Both are unapologetically African, both are forces of nature on their respective stages, and both make what they do look completely effortless.
If Oshoala is running at defenders with that huge smile on her face, Burna Boy was probably in her ears an hour before kickoff.
2. Coldplay
Coldplay has been making music for over two decades, and their sound sits in that sweet spot between emotional and uplifting.
- Yellow
- Fix You
- The Scientist
- A Sky Full of Stars
Their catalogue runs deep, and almost every song on it makes you feel something real. Fix You, in particular, has this way of picking you up after a hard week without making a big deal about it.
Aitana Bonmatí, the Spanish midfield genius and two-time Ballon d’Or winner, has spoken about her love for Coldplay.
It tracks perfectly. Their music helps you breathe, think clearly, and feel grounded.
Aitana plays with calm intelligence, and Coldplay gives exactly that kind of energy back.
3. Tems
If you haven’t properly sat with a Tems song yet, you’re missing something. The Nigerian-British singer has one of the most haunting voices in music right now. Free Mind, Higher, and her feature on Wizkid’s Essence introduced her to the whole world, and people haven’t stopped listening since.
Free Mind especially feels like it was made for the quiet hour before a big match.
Tems is one of the best artists female soccer players love when they need to get into a focused, serious headspace.
Her music doesn’t hype you up in a loud way. It quiets everything else down so you can zero in on what actually matters.
4. The Weeknd
The Weeknd has spent years building one of the biggest music careers on the planet, and female footballers are absolutely listening.
- Blinding Lights
- Starboy
- Can’t Feel My Face
- Save Your Tears
Weeknd’s hits are everywhere, but it’s the deeper cuts like Often and The Hills that really set a mood. There’s a cold confidence running through his whole catalogue that is hard to find anywhere else.
When you need that slow-build confidence before a female soccer match, not loud and aggressive but calm and locked in, The Weeknd delivers every single time. His music is the kind that plays in your head as you walk out of the tunnel and the crowd noise starts rising around you.
5. Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran is one of those artists that pretty much everyone has a personal connection with, and Aitana Bonmatí is no exception.
- Shape of You,
- Thinking Out Loud
- Castle on the Hill
- Perfect
These songs have a way of pulling you straight back to a specific moment, a specific feeling, a specific person. Castle on the Hill in particular hits hard if you grew up grinding for something you really wanted.
What makes Ed Sheeran one of the best artists female soccer players love is exactly that personal connection. Sometimes, before a big match, you don’t want noise. You just want to feel grounded and remember why you love what you do.
6. J. Cole
J. Cole makes music for people who are putting in work quietly, without needing the whole world to notice.
- No Role Modelz
- Love Yourz
- ATM
- Middle Child
His verses are layered, and his message across every project is consistent. Love Yourz, especially, is one of those songs that remind you what actually matters when the pressure starts piling up.
For female footballers doing early morning sessions, staying behind after training, and pushing through the moments nobody sees or praises, J. Cole’s music genuinely speaks to that.
His message is about doing the work and believing it will pay off. Every soccer girl who has ever been doubted knows exactly what that feels like.
7. Daddy Yankee
Daddy Yankee is the King of Reggaeton.
- Gasolina
- Con Calma
- Shaky Shaky
- Rompe
Yankee has been dropping bangers since before most current female footballers were born, and his music still hits just as hard today. Gasolina alone has probably soundtracked more warm-ups than any other song in existence.
He’s the artist female soccer players love, you put on when you need to physically wake your body up. Warm-up laps, pre-match jumping around in the dressing room, getting the legs moving before the whistle blows.
Female soccer players across South America and Europe have been running to his beats for years, and after one listen, you’ll completely understand why.
8. SZA
SZA makes music that feels like reading someone’s private diary.
- Kill Bill
- Good Days
- Snooze
- Nobody Gets Me
SZA’s R&B sound is personal, raw, and honest in a way that catches you off guard sometimes. Good Days became the song a lot of people leaned on heavily during tough periods, and Kill Bill is just effortlessly cool from start to finish.
Alyssa Thompson, the young American winger who announced herself to the world as a teenager, is a big SZA fan.
For a young female footballer carrying enormous expectations, SZA’s music is a reminder that it’s okay to feel deeply and still show up and be brilliant.
9. Beyoncé
No list of the best artists female soccer players love gets finished without Beyoncé.
- Crazy in Love
- Formation
- Run the World
- Lemonade as a full body of work
- Texas Hold ‘Em
Beyonce’s catalogue is so wide and so deep that you could build a completely different playlist for every single day of the week and never repeat a song. Formation alone is one of the most empowering things ever put to music.
If there’s one artist that female footballers across every country, every position, and every level agree on, it’s Beyoncé. Her music is about being a woman, being powerful, and refusing to shrink.
For any soccer girl stepping onto the pitch, that message hits completely differently.
10. Gunna
Gunna brings a smooth, unhurried energy to hip-hop.
- Drip or Drown
- Banking on Me
- Fukumean
- Pushing P
The Atlanta rapper has a melodic, laid-back delivery that makes his music feel sure of itself without needing to prove anything. Fukumean, in particular, just oozes that quiet confidence that separates good players from great ones.
Lauren James, the England forward known for her flair and her absolute belief on the ball, fits this energy completely.
Gunna’s music doesn’t feel desperate. It feels inevitable. And that’s exactly how Lauren James moves on a football pitch.
11. Travis Scott
Travis Scott makes music that feels like an event.
- SICKO MODE
- Goosebumps
- Antidote
- FE!N
Rihanna’s hubby productions are enormous, layered, and atmospheric in a way that builds until the whole thing feels like it could shake the walls. You don’t just hear it. You feel it somewhere in your chest.
For female footballers who need to flip a switch and go from relaxed to fully locked in, Travis Scott is that switch. The moment SICKO MODE kicks into its second beat switch, your body just knows it’s time to go.
12. Drake
Drake has spent over a decade making music that fits every emotion going.
- God’s Plan
- Started from the Bottom
- Hotline Bling
- Rich Flex
- One Dance
The range is genuinely ridiculous. Started from the Bottom has been a dressing room anthem for female footballers who came up the hard way, and that’s basically most of them.
Sam Kerr, the Australian striker and one of the most lethal female soccer forwards in the history of women’s football, is a known Drake fan.
Both have built careers out of sheer will, skill, and not particularly caring what anyone thinks.
Sam Kerr scores goals like she was born to do exactly that, and Drake makes music the same way.
13. Stormzy
Stormzy is British grime at its most powerful.
- Shut Up
- Blinded by Your Grace
- Vossi Bop
- Crown
The South London MC makes music that carries real weight. Blinded by Your Grace is almost spiritual, and Vossi Bop is the kind of track that makes you feel like the whole country is behind you.
Sam Kerr is also a Stormzy fan, which tells you something about her character beyond the goals.
Stormzy’s music talks about where you came from, what you’ve pushed through, and refusing to let anyone dim your light.
If you’re a female footballer who has had to fight to be taken seriously, that message lands hard.
14. Wizkid
Wizkid makes music that feels like sunshine.
- Essence
- Come Closer
- Ojuelegba
- Mood
The Nigerian Afrobeats legend has built a sound that is warm, easy, and impossible not to move to. Essence featuring Tems became one of the biggest songs on the planet a few years back, and it still sounds as fresh today as the day it dropped.
His music is perfect for the moments before the intensity kicks in. The calm walk to the stadium, the loose warm-up, the quiet moment when you close your eyes and settle into yourself.
Wizkid is one of the best artists female soccer players love for exactly that reason. He doesn’t demand anything from you. He just makes you feel good.
15. Rihanna
Rihanna has been making anthems for nearly two decades, and every era of her career has produced something female footballers have played at full volume.
- Umbrella
- We Found Love
- Needed Me
- Diamonds
- Work
The hits are stacked on top of each other. Needed Me especially has an energy that is cold, confident, and completely unbothered, which is a very specific feeling that a lot of female footballers chase before a big game.
Georgia Stanway, the Bayern Munich and England midfielder known for her fierce and combative style, is a Rihanna fan. Makes complete sense.
Rihanna’s whole energy is about confidence and walking into any room as you own it. That is Georgia Stanway on a football pitch, head up, chest out, absolutely no apologies.
16. Summer Walker
Summer Walker makes deeply personal music about love, pain, healing, and growth.
- Over It
- Girls Need Love
- No Love
- Come Thru
Summer Walker’s sound has a softness that feels real, and her music has a way of helping you process things you didn’t even know were sitting heavy on you. Over It as an album is one of those projects you put on and just let run from start to finish.
Alyssa Thompson connects with Summer Walker’s music, and it makes total sense. Being a young female footballer under the spotlight is not just physically demanding. It’s emotionally demanding too.
Sometimes the preparation you actually need is to feel understood, release some tension, and arrive at the pitch lighter than when you left the house.
17. Cardi B
Closing this list exactly the way it deserves to be closed. Cardi B is loud, fearless, and genuinely unbothered by anyone’s opinion of her.
- Bodak Yellow
- WAP
- Money
- Up
Cardi B’s music is bold, fun, and built for the moments when you need to feel completely and entirely like yourself.
Bodak Yellow is still one of the most confident debut singles in rap history, and female footballers have been claiming it ever since it dropped.
Lynn Williams, the American striker with the kind of energy that lifts every room she walks into, fits Cardi B’s vibe perfectly.
Cardi B is one of the best artists female soccer players love when you need to walk into a big game and remember, before any of the noise starts, that you are that girl.
No questions. No doubt. Just full, total confidence.
Final Whistle
There you have it. The best artists female soccer players love, from Afrobeats legends to pop icons to grime royalty.
If you need to calm your nerves, wake your body up, feel powerful, or settle into your own skin before kickoff, there is an artist on this list made for that exact moment.
Plug in, press play, and go show them what you’ve got.
