Joining Bonmati in the Record Books
Putellas now has three Ballon d'Or Feminin crowns, matching Spain team-mate Aitana Bonmati, who won in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Putellas herself took the award in 2021 and 2022. The Spanish pair have claimed the last six editions, and the only non-Spaniards to win it are Norway's Ada Hegerberg (2018) and Megan Rapinoe of the United States (2019).
The win completes a remarkable comeback from a career-threatening anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in 2022. "All the boys and girls around the world, if you love football and if you want to play football, play football," she said. "It doesn't matter if you're a boy or if you're a girl." She added, "Don't listen if someone tells you, you can't do it. Believe in yourself."
She collected the most votes from an international panel of journalists across Fifa's top-50 ranked countries. Barcelona striker Ewa Pajor finished second and Manchester City forward Khadija Shaw third. On the men's side, England captain Harry Kane won the Ballon d'Or, the first English player to do so since Michael Owen in 2001.
The Numbers Behind the Award
Barcelona are always heavy favourites in Spain's three domestic competitions, but Putellas showed last season that she is still among the world's elite. Nicknamed "La Reina," meaning the queen, she scored 21 goals and made 13 assists in all competitions, ranking third and second respectively across Europe's top five leagues. Seven of those goals came in the Champions League, where Barcelona won a fourth continental title in six seasons. Only Pernille Harder (eight), Alessia Russo (nine) and Ewa Pajor (11) scored more, and all three are strikers.
Her influence went well beyond goals. In Liga F, which Barcelona won for a seventh straight season, she finished joint-sixth for assists (seven) and fourth for open-play chances created (40). Across the top five leagues, only Claudia Pina (199), Vicky Lopez (183) and Georgia Stanway (168) had more sequence involvements ending in an open-play shot than her 151. In all competitions she created 89 chances, 19 of them big chances, and completed 965 passes ending in the final third, both more than any other player in Liga F, the Champions League, Copa de la Reina and Supercopa de Espana. In the Champions League, only Bayern Munich's Klara Buhl matched her 36 chances created, the most in a single edition since Caroline Graham Hansen's 38 in 2021-22.
From Mollet del Valles to the Top
Putellas grew up in the Catalan municipality of Mollet del Valles, about 12 miles north-east of Barcelona. She started playing football in the street, became a Barcelona fan and went to Camp Nou regularly. With matches always on at home, Andres Iniesta, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho became her idols. After a summer camp run by Xavi and time with local side CE Sabadell, she spent a year at La Masia, Barcelona's youth academy. Spells at Espanyol and Levante followed the disbandment of her girls team, and she returned to Barca in 2012.
That began a 14-year spell at her childhood club, with 38 trophies, including 10 league titles and four European cups. After her first Ballon d'Or in 2021, she suffered an ACL injury on the eve of Euro 2022 that ruled her out of the tournament. She kept the award later that year, but it took a while to return to her best, and a bit-part role in Spain's 2023 World Cup triumph would have stung. She scored in the 2024 Champions League final and improved again the following season. In 2025-26 she carried much of Barcelona's creative load while Aitana Bonmati missed five months through injury, and the team finished as quadruple winners. In June she also scored twice in a 4-0 win over England that sealed Spain's place at the 2027 World Cup at the Lionesses' expense.
With her Barcelona contract expiring and a wish for a new challenge, she chose to leave, to the distress of her fans and herself. Offers came from England, Mexico and the United States, but she joined US billionaire Michelle Kang's ambitious project at London City Lionesses in July. "I'm just always looking forward to better things and that's why I'm here too, because I always need to be moving as a person and a player," she said. With three goals and one assist in seven WSL games so far, she is clearly still worthy of her nickname.
