Alexia Putellas has won the Women’s Ballon d’Or for the third time on Monday night in London.
The London City Lionesses forward, who moved to the Women’s Super League in the summer, captained Barcelona to a historic quadruple last season.
Barca won a third Champions League trophy in four years and a seventh consecutive Liga F title. Putellas, who won the Women’s Ballon d’Or in 2021 and 2022, breaks the three-year run from Spanish compatriot and teammate Aitana Bonmati.
Putellas, 32, scored 21 goals and produced 13 assists in all competitions across last season, as well as six international goals as defending champions Spain qualified for next year’s World Cup in Brazil.
“Thank you very much,” Putellas said upon receiving the award. “It’s a pleasure to be here today, thank you France Football, thank you to the ones who thought I deserved this award.
“I don’t know what to say, too many things. Congrats to all the nominees and all the winners. I want to start by saying thank you to my teammates; so many Barca players were nominated and that says a great deal about the season we had.
“It was a great pleasure to play alongside each and every one of you. We had some incredible experiences as a team, we also overcame a few difficulties, some injuries, some moments that we weren’t expecting as a team and it was a great prize for me to be captain.
“Just to finish for all the boys and girls around the world, if you want to play football, play football. Doesn’t matter if you are a boy or a girl, where you come from, don’t listen to someone who says you can’t do it.
“Believe in yourself - if you have a dream, go for it, even at some point you have to start at zero – and do it with love and passion.”
Spain had more players on the women’s shortlist than any other country – six in total – while England stars Alessia Russo and Alex Greenwood were the only England players to make the 30-player shortlist.