CORNERFLICK
Alexia Putellas won the 2026 women’s Ballon d’Or in London on Monday, extending the six-year run in which only Barcelona-linked Spanish players have taken the award since 2021.
Putellas joins Bonmatí on three
Putellas collected the third Ballon d’Or of her career and moved back alongside Aitana Bonmatí at the top of the women’s award list. Every women’s Ballon d’Or from 2021 onwards has gone to one of the pair.
Putellas first won in 2021, then repeated the feat in 2022 before injury opened the door for Bonmatí. Bonmatí followed with three straight wins in 2023, 2024 and 2025, becoming the first woman to lift the prize in three consecutive years.
Barcelona’s grip on the prize
All six awards in this sequence were won while Putellas or Bonmatí were playing for Barcelona. Putellas left the Catalan club for London City Lionesses this summer after 14 years, but her latest victory was still built on her final season in Spain, when Barcelona won the treble and the Champions League.
Since 2021, no player outside the Spanish duo has won the women’s Ballon d’Or.