Football news - Megan Rapinoe hails Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Sahar Khodayari

Rapinoe was the star of the USA's Women's World Cup triumph this summer, and caught the headlines when she said she would refuse an invitation from president Donald Trump to go to the White House.

She used her platform to pay tribute to those who have inspired her in her battle for equality in the game, such as the victims of racial abuse, LGBT players and the story of Sahar Khodayari, an Iranian football fan who self-immolated outside a courtroom after learning she could face six months in prison for trying to enter a stadium.

“Stories that have inspired me most; Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly, the young Iran woman who burnt to death, the one out MLS player, the out NWSL players,” she said during her acceptance speech.

“If we really want to have meaningful change, what I think is most inspiring would be if everybody other than Sterling and Koulibaly, if they were as outraged about racism as they were, if everybody was as outraged about homophobia as the LGBTQ players, if everybody was as outraged about the lack of equal pay and investment in the women’s game other than just women, that would be the most inspiring thing to me.

"I ask everybody here to lend your platform, to lift people up, to use this beautiful game to change the world for better."