Putellas Claims Third Women's Ballon d'Or, Matching Spain's Record Haul

Alexia Putellas has added a third Ballon d'Or Feminin to her collection, a haul that matches the record for the women's award and keeps the trophy firmly in Spanish hands.

The Barcelona and Spain midfielder had gone into the vote as the favourite, having been one of the standout players in the Catalan side's domestic campaign. Her two earlier wins came in 2021 and 2022, when she became the first player to claim the award in back-to-back years, and they established her as one of the defining figures of the modern women's game.

The result also underlines how completely Spain has controlled the award in recent seasons. Putellas and her Barcelona teammate Aitana Bonmati have shared the most recent run of winners between them, a stretch that has left rivals such as England's Alessia Russo and Jamaica's Khadija Shaw chasing a first prize.

Putellas's third win matches the number of awards Bonmati has collected, and it makes the midfielder the most decorated player in the history of the women's award. Further details of the voting and the ceremony were not included in the source material, so those are worth checking against the official Ballon d'Or announcement.