Alexia Putellas is the best women's player in the world again. The Spain midfielder won her third Ballon d'Or Feminin at the London Palladium on Monday night, ending Aitana Bonmati's three-year hold on the prize and collecting the award in the city she now calls home after joining London City Lionesses.
Putellas previously won the award in 2021 and 2022, before an anterior cruciate ligament injury torn on the eve of Euro 2022 stalled her at her peak and Bonmati took over for club and country, winning three straight Ballons d'Or between 2023 and 2025. Bonmati missed significant time in 2026 after a leg fracture suffered at the end of 2025, and Putellas stepped back into the space she once owned — this time as captain of a Barcelona side that won everything.
"I don't know what to say, too many things," Putellas said on stage, via the ceremony coverage. "Congrats to all the nominees, congrats to all the winners. That so many Barca players were nominated says a lot about the season we had. It was my honor to be your captain."
A Crown Reclaimed After Injury
The scale of the comeback is what makes this win different from the first two. Putellas was the creative heartbeat of an all-conquering Barcelona team when the ACL tear derailed her rise, and she played only a bit-part role in Spain's World Cup triumph a year later while Bonmati became the face of the team. It took the best part of two years for Putellas to rediscover her best form, according to AFP's account of her return — and when she did, Barcelona regained the Champions League in dominant fashion with her wearing the armband.
She beat a formidable field in London, as USA Today reported, including her Barcelona team-mate Ewa Pajor, Lyon and Haiti standout Melchie Dumornay, and Manchester City's Khadija "Bunny" Shaw, the WSL Player of the Season. The men's prize on the same night went to Kane, while Saka collected the Socrates Award.
The Season That Won It
The numbers behind the award belong to her final season in Barcelona colours. Putellas captained Barca to a quadruple — the Liga F title, two domestic cups and the Women's Champions League, sealed with a 4-0 win over Lyon in the final, where she was named UEFA Women's Champions League Player of the Season after scoring seven goals and adding seven assists in the competition. Over the full voting period she registered 26 goals and 15 assists in 53 matches, as TSN reported.
The third trophy lifts her level with Bonmati as the most successful woman in the award's history, and level with men's three-time winners Michel Platini, Marco van Basten and Johan Cruyff — the name Putellas herself once said she most wanted to stand alongside. She is also the first player to win the Ballon d'Or Feminin while playing for a Women's Super League side, having joined London City on a free transfer in the summer after 14 seasons and 350 league appearances for Barcelona.
So What Does It Mean?
Putellas arrives at that status as a London City player, not a Barcelona one, and that is the point the WSL will celebrate loudest. The world's best player has chosen Michele Kang's independent project as the next chapter of her career, in a league that has never before housed a reigning Ballon d'Or Feminin winner. Every London City home game now carries a different weight, and every opponent gets a shot at the standard-bearer.
For Spain, the timing matters too. Next year's voting period will include the 2027 Women's World Cup, and Putellas — fully fit, captaining at club level in England and back on top of the individual game — goes into that cycle as the player to beat, with Bonmati's return from injury setting up a direct contest between the two three-time winners for a fourth crown neither has yet managed.
Beyond the Final Whistle: This is the most satisfying Ballon d'Or win of Putellas' three, because it was not supposed to happen. The ACL tear was meant to close her era and open Bonmati's; instead, at 32, she captained Barcelona to a quadruple, took her trophy back in her new home city, and proved the first two golden balls were a beginning, not a peak. The queen was never dethroned — she was just injured. Did Putellas deserve to beat Pajor, Dumornay and Shaw this year, or should the award have gone elsewhere? Let us know in the comments.
