The Wolfsburg and Denmark forward on being voted the Guardian’s best female footballer in the world, second in the Ballon d’Or, but missing out on next year’s World Cup

Pernille Harder, the first player to be announced as No 1 on the Guardian’s list of the 100 best female footballers in the world, has spoken about the honour of being chosen by a panel of journalists, managers and her peers.

Having beaten Australia’s Sam Kerr, the Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg, England’s Lucy Bronze and the France striker Eugénie Le Sommer to the summit, Harder, who plays as a forward for double-winning Wolfsburg, said: “It always means a lot when you know it’s a jury that really knows about women’s football. To be No 1 among all of these amazing players is fantastic.”

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This has been an important week for women’s football. The launch of the Guardian’s list – in collaboration with the Offside Rule podcast – followed the awarding of the first women’s Ballon d’Or. Uefa, meanwhile, has announced a major partnership with Visa for the sponsorship of women’s tournaments including the Champions League, the Football Association has been successful in its bid to host Euro 2021and, on Saturday the draw takes place for next summer’s Women’s World Cup in France.

For Harder, the increase in top awards for women footballers is important. “It’s really good that all these awards the men have, the women now have too,” the Denmark international says. “A lot of people now know who Ada Hegerberg is. It is important women are highlighted for their achievementsand it’s important for young girls to know it’s cool to play football.”

Individual recognition “matters” but Harder stresses it is borne out of collective success. “Titles with the team are ultimately most important because without performing in a team you will never get individual awards and recognition like this. But of course it means something, because it is recognition for all the hard work and sacrifice you’ve put in. It shows that that gives out in the end.”

Play Video 1:04 Pernille Harder: Guardian's female footballer of the year in 60 seconds – video

Although the steps forward the women’s game has taken are clear, Hegerberg being asked whether she knew “how to twerk” by the French DJ Martin Solveig after the three-times Champions League winner picked up the Ballon d’Or shows just how far there is to go. “It’s a real shame it was all about this twerk incident instead of her football,” says Harder, who finished a close second to Hegerberg. “It’s weird that they are talking about a twerk when you’ve just won the Ballon d’Or for playing football; it doesn’t really fit together.

“I don’t think he meant it as something bad but the fact he said it and they didn’t see it as wrong in the first place, that says something about the mentality and that’s really sad, because of course he would never ask [Luka] Modric [the men’s winner] if he could twerk.”

Does football still have a problem with sexism? “I think it’s very different around the world. A lot has happened in the last few years, there is more and more respect for women’s football all over and it will keep on developing. But of course we are not there yet.”

Having joined Wolfsburg from the Swedish side Linköping, Harder has won consecutive domestic doubles and last season her club took the Champions League final against Lyon to extra time, took the lead, lost Alexandra Popp to a second yellow card and then collapsed to lose 4-1. “It was a really good season – winning the double and being top scorer in the league was amazing,” says Harder, who scored 17 in 22 league games.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pernille Harder: ‘There is more respect for women’s football all over. But we are not there yet’ Photograph: Christian Jungeblodt/Guardian

The disappointment is still there from the Champions League final, coming five days after domestic cup success. “It was a tough game. I think we were tired because we had the cup final days before. We lost some players – Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir and Caroline Graham Hansen – two very important players, but we went up 1-0 in extra time and it felt really good. We thought we could take it but we got one man out, they had some extra energy to put in and they ran us over in the end. It was really sad that it was just five minutes of happiness.”

On the way to her first final, there was another first: Harder lined up opposite her partner, the Swedish defender Magda Eriksson, when Wolfsburg met Chelsea over two legs in the semi-finals. “It’s special because we both want to win and we both want each other to succeed,” Harder says. “It’s really strange but when you’re on the field you don’t think so much about it. It’s more before and between the games that it’s different.”

They played together in Sweden but then Harder left for Germany before Eriksson moved to London. “It’s difficult but we have learned how to cope with it and know how to handle it,” she says. “But of course I’m still looking forward to the day when we are living together again.”

But the benefit of understanding your partner’s job is clear. “We know exactly how each other feels when we lose or win. We have a lot of experience from when we played together, so we know what each other needs when things are going wrong.”

At 26, Harder is playing the best football of her career but she feels there is more to come. “I’ve been playing on a high level in recent years but I still think I have more to develop. I can be even better but I have been feeling good over a long time.”

Yet Denmark and the Netherlands, suffering from a Euro 2017 hangover after meeting in the final, struggled in qualifying for the World Cup. They met in a rerun of the final in a play-off semi-final for the last European spot, and the result was the same. With Hegerberg taking a break from the Norway team following frustrations with domestic support for women’s football, the tournament will be without two of the world’s best players. For Harder, the feeling is still raw.

“Sometimes when you have had success it can be difficult to maintain it,” she says. “You have to perform on a high level in every game now because there are so many good teams in Europe so you can’t relax for a second. It’s of course a big disappointment for me. I really wanted to play at the World Cup. I took some time to get over it and I guess I’m not over it yet, but I will be there next summer to support Magda.”

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Did she ever think she would reach the heights she has? “I always dreamed of being one of the biggest players in women’s football and of being able to change things, especially in Denmark because it was not very popular when I was young and growing up.

“I always worked hard for it from the day I worked out I had some talent. I was never sure I would get to this point but the dream has always been there.”