Barca midfielder Aitana Bonmati wins the Ballon d'Or

Aitana Bonmatí, FC Barcelona footballer, won her first Ballon d'Or award on Monday. The award was announced by Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic. The 25-year-old midfielder from Sant Pere de Ribes was the favourite to take over from her team-mate Alexia Putellas, who won the trophy in 2021 and 2022.

The Catalan player thus closes a dream 2023. Aitana began the year by winning the Spanish Super Cup with FC Barcelona (22 January), a title that was followed by La Liga F (30 April) and the UEFA Women's Champions League (3 June, in Eindhoven).

In addition to the three collective titles with the Azulgrana team, Aitana was distinguished with individual awards such as the MVP of the Supercopa (she was also the top scorer) and the Champions League.

Aitana Bonmatí continued on the path of success with the Spanish national team and on 20 August she won the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. She scored three goals, provided two assists in 582 minutes played and was the best player in two matches (Costa Rica and Switzerland).

The FC Barcelona midfielder was proclaimed World Cup Golden Ball winner, followed by her teammate Jennifer Hermoso (Silver Ball) and Sweden's Amanda Ilestedt (Bronze Ball).

The individual accolades for Aitana Bonmatí did not end there. On 31 August, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, she was distinguished as the best player of the 2022-23 season according to UEFA. She did so by beating the other two nominees: Sam Kerr (Chelsea) and Olga Carmona (Real Madrid). Aitana garnered 308 votes to 88 for the Australian and 72 for the Spaniard.

Aitana Bonmatí is the fourth player to win the Ballon d'Or after Ada Hegerberg (Lyon) in 2018, Megan Rapinoe (Reign) in 2019 and Alexia Putellas (FC Barcelona) in 2021 and 2022. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 health crisis, the trophy was not awarded.

The FC Barcelona player has always maintained that, in order to get this far, the help of her teammates, both in the FC Barcelona team and the Spanish national team, has been essential. As well as the technical and auxiliary staff. Nor has she ever forgotten the support of the fans, to whom she always offers the individual prizes she has won.