Alexia Putellas has won the Ballon d’Or Feminin for a record-equalling third time, cementing her place among the greatest players in women’s football history. The 32-year-old Spain midfielder beat Barcelona striker Ewa Pajor and Manchester City forward Khadija Shaw to the prize.
Alexia Putellas (Credits: BBC Sport)
Putellas captained Barcelona to Champions League glory as part of a quadruple in 2025-26, before joining Women’s Super League side London City Lionesses in July. Her latest triumph keeps the award in Spanish hands for a sixth straight year.
Alexia Putellas Ballon d’Or Feminin Third Win
Putellas now joins Spain team-mate Aitana Bonmati on three Ballon d’Or Feminin crowns. Putellas won the award in 2021 and 2022, while Bonmati followed with victories in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Together, the Spanish pair have claimed the last six editions of the prize.
Only Norway’s Ada Hegerberg in 2018 and Megan Rapinoe of the United States in 2019 have broken the Spanish dominance since the women’s award began. That run underlines just how central Spain, and Barcelona in particular, have become to the women’s game.
Putellas collected the most votes from an international panel of journalists across FIFA’s top-50 ranked countries, a fitting reward for a season in which she shouldered much of Barcelona’s creative load while Bonmati missed five months through injury.
La Reina’s Numbers Tell the Story
Nicknamed La Reina, meaning the queen, Putellas scored 21 goals and provided 13 assists in all competitions last season. Seven of those goals came in the Women’s Champions League, as Barcelona claimed a fourth continental title in six seasons.
Her influence went far beyond scoring. In Liga F, which Barcelona won for a seventh consecutive season, she finished joint-sixth for assists and fourth for open-play chances created. Across Europe’s top five leagues, few players were involved in more attacking sequences ending in a shot.
In all competitions, she created more chances and completed more passes into the final third than any other player in Liga F, the Champions League, Copa de la Reina and Supercopa de Espana combined. Only Bayern Munich’s Klara Buhl matched her 36 chances created in the Champions League, the most in a single edition since 2021-22.
A Comeback From a Career-Threatening Injury
Putellas’ third Ballon d’Or is also a story of resilience. After winning the award for the first time in 2021, she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury on the eve of Euro 2022, ruling her out of the tournament.
She retained the Ballon d’Or later that year, but the road back to her best was long. She played only a bit-part role in Spain’s triumphant 2023 World Cup campaign, before scoring in the 2024 Champions League final and building back to her peak the following season.
Born in Mollet del Valles, about 12 miles north-east of Barcelona, Putellas grew up a Barcelona fan and a regular at Camp Nou. After a year at La Masia and spells at Espanyol and Levante, she returned to Barca in 2012, beginning a 14-year career that brought 38 trophies, including 10 league titles and four European cups.
Now at London City Lionesses, a new chapter awaits. But this third Ballon d’Or confirms what Barcelona fans have long known: La Reina remains one of the finest midfielders world football has ever seen.
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Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.