Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmatí has retained the Ballon d’Or Féminin, seeing off competition from teammate Caroline Graham Hansen to win the award for the second successive year.
The 26-year-old was the star performer as Barça won the quadruple for the first time in the club’s history last season. Bonmatí lifted the fifth Liga F, third Women’s Champions League, sixth Copa de la Reina and fourth Spanish Supercopa of her career.
“Thank you so much for your applause. I’m so grateful to be here to receive this award for the second time,” she said on collecting the prize.
“I always say this is not something that you can do alone, I’m so lucky to be surrounded by wonderful players who help me to keep growing into a better player. So thank you to my teammates because without them I wouldn’t be here, I would also like to thank my club and [Barcelona president] Joan Laporta.
“When you are growing and have more experience, you have confidence. It is not about the trophies, it is about having my team mates next to me.”
Bonmatí was also part of the Spain side which followed up their World Cup success by winning the first edition of the Women’s Nations League, scoring in the 2-0 victory over France in the final.
It is the fourth successive year a Barça player has won the award, with Bonmatí’s teammate Alexia Putellas previously winning it in 2021 and 2022. Three of the top four nominees in the voting were Barça players — Bonmatí, Salma Paralluelo and Graham Hansen, along with Portland Thorns’ Sophia Smith.
Putellas subsequently missed a large part of the following year with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, which led to Bonmatí taking on a more important role with both club and country.
She made 41 appearances in all competitions last season, scoring 19 goals from midfield and setting up 17 more.
She was named the Women’s Champions League Player of the Season for 2023-24 and was also given the Player of the Match award in the final — a 2-0 win over French side Lyon which earned Barça the trophy for a second consecutive year.
Teammate Graham Hansen ran her close this season, finishing second, with Paralluelo in third.
The Norway international has previously been overlooked for individual awards, but has finally received a level of recognition for her contribution to Barça’s success over the years since she joined the club in 2019.
Graham Hansen scored 32 goals in 40 appearances in all competitions last season from the right wing, setting up a further 28 for a combined 60 goal contributions.
Barcelona were unsurprisingly named as the women’s football team of the year ahead of Bonmatí’s latest crowning at the awards ceremony.
Former Barcelona forward Jenni Hermoso was handed the Socrates prize for humanitarian work. Hermoso, who now plays for Tigres in Mexico, has campaigned against sexual assault in football after being kissed by former Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales following her team’s triumph at the women’s World Cup in August 2023.
Earlier in Paris, Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal won the Kopa Trophy for best under-21 player over the previous season, while Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappé shared the Gerd Müller trophy for most goals in the season.
Aston Villa and Argentina stopper Emiliano Martínez retained the prize for best goalkeeper in the world following his country’s Copa América title.