Ballon d'Or Féminin

Congratulations to Aitana Bonmatí on winning the Ballon d'Or Féminin! This is her second time winning the Ballon d'Or, last year in 2023 and now in 2024. Aitana Bonmatí plays for Spain and Barcelona. After receiving the Ballon d'Or and being shown a picture of her younger self playing football she said: 

"Today I hope to be a role model for many girls starting out, I hope that this can reach many households and that many girls and boys see themselves in me. I hope to be able to inspire many young girls and boys too. Like the Aitana in the photo, who definitely needed female role models and did not have any at the time." 

Other women to win the Ballon d'Or are Alexia Putellas from Spain who also won the award twice, Megan Rapinoe from America and Ada Hegerberg from Norway.  Like Aitana Bonmatí,  Alexia Putellas also plays for Barcelona making this Barcelona's fourth time winning the women's Ballon d'Or. 

The Ballon d'Or Féminin started in 2018.  This was 62 years after the men's started in 1956, when women's football was still banned in lots of places. The nominee list included 20 players unlike the men's 30. But in 2023 it was expanded to 30. Unfortunately, this year the event took place during a women's international window, meaning lots of women's players were unable to attend the event. England players who were shortlisted weren't able to attend the event because of a friendly against South Africa. Sarina Wiegman, manager of the England women's team said "That's really disappointing because that's a moment to celebrate women's football as a whole community. . . so of course you want to be there but we have a job to do so we have to be here, so yeah it would be really helpful if that would be planned on another date". There were also a lot of other teams who weren't able to come because of the Women's European Qualifiers. This is not the first time this has happened. In 2021 Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d'Or and had to travel to Seville for a European qualifier against Scotland the next day. 

Nevertheless, Bonmatí was able to receive her award. She is an amazing football player, winning the Ballon d'Or for a second consecutive time is an incredible acheivement. Congratulations to her and Rodri, winner of the men's Ballon d'Or.