Aitana Bonmatí wins the Ballon d'Or 2023

MADRID, 30 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish midfielder Aitana Bonmatí fulfilled the predictions and was chosen this Monday as the winner of the Ballon d'Or trophy, one more recognition that culminates her excellent year and that extends the dominance of national women's football in this award, while her teammate Salma Paralluelo finished in a brilliant third place.

The FC Barcelona and national team midfielder was practically the undisputed favorite to inherit the throne from her teammate and compatriot Alexia Putellas, winner of the last two years, and reward for a great season where she achieved practically everything on a collective and individual level.

Without a doubt, no one has achieved as many merits, individually and collectively, as that of Sant Pere de Ribas, who in the 2022-2023 season won his second Champions League with FC Barcelona and the historic first World Cup with the 'Red', with the addition that in both competitions she was chosen as the best footballer, proof of her current state of form at only 25 years old.

Furthermore, Aitana Bonmatí, who culminated last season with the titles of the F League and the Spanish Super Cup, was already chosen last August as the 'Best Player in Europe' so it seemed difficult that someone could take away her title. first Ballon d'Or, awarded to him by the Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic.

This is also the third consecutive for Spanish women's football and the fourth in total for a player born in Spain after the one achieved by the late Luis Suárez in 1960 (Alfredo di Stéfano, nationalized Spanish but Argentine by birth, won it twice 1957 and 1959). Trophies all of them achieved by footballers who played for FC Barcelona, ​​which raised its list of Ballon d'Or awards to a total of 15 and which maintains it as the most successful club in the history of this recognition.

And as happened in the 'Best Player in Europe' award, the Spaniard finished ahead of the Australian forward Sam Kerr (Chelsea), who rose one place compared to the two previous editions and after a season in which she was champion of the English Super League, semi-finalist of the Champions League and fourth with her team in the World Cup, while the 'Top 3' recognized the great year of another Spanish soccer player, Salma Paralluelo.

The 19-year-old from Aragon had an outstanding campaign with FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team. With the 'Red' she was key in the World Cup with her goals in the quarterfinals against the Netherlands and in the semifinals in Sweden, and the title won in Sydney made her the only player to have the triple World Cup crown since in August 2022 won the U-20 and in November 2018 the U-17. The Swedish Fridolina Rolfö (FC Barcelona) and the English goalkeeper Mary Earps (Manchester United) completed the 'Top 5'.

Of the rest of the Spanish players who were nominated for this Ballon d'Or, the next best classified was the Real Madrid soccer player Olga Carmona, author of the goals that gave Spain a place in the World Cup final and the conquest of the title and that ended in sixth position, while FC Barcelona midfielder Patri Guijarro was eighth. Defender Mapi León (FC Barcelona) and forward Alba Redondo (Levante) finished sixteenth and twenty-first respectively.