Alexia Putellas won her third Ballon d’Or Féminin in London in 2026, becoming only the second woman in history to reach that number and tying compatriot Aitana Bonmatí for the all-time record. The award closed a cycle that started with an ACL tear that threatened to end her run at the top — and a 2025–26 season so dominant it left no room for debate.
From an ACL Tear to a Historic Quadruple
It’s easy to forget how close the story came to ending differently. Just before the 2022 Euros, Putellas tore her anterior cruciate ligament — the kind of injury that doesn’t just pause a career; it rewrites it. She had just won back-to-back Ballon d’Or awards in 2021 and 2022, and suddenly the question wasn’t how many more she could win but whether she’d ever return to that level at all.
She did. And then some. The 2025–26 season with FC Barcelona Femení was the kind of campaign coaches draw up on whiteboards and players spend careers chasing: Liga F, Copa de la Reina, Supercopa de España, and the UEFA Women’s Champions League — a full quadruple, with Putellas as captain for all of it. She contributed 7 goals and 7 assists across 11 Champions League matches, earning UEFA Women’s Champions League Player of the Season along the way. Much like the story of Spain’s women’s national team rise, this run didn’t happen overnight — it was built across years of unglamorous work that only became visible once the trophies arrived.
What the Voting Said — and What It Means for Spanish Football
The international journalists’ poll wasn’t close. Putellas finished first ahead of former Barcelona teammate Ewa Pajor in second and Manchester City forward Khadija Shaw in third. On the international stage, she also lifted the UEFA Women’s Nations League with Spain, taking Player of the Finals honors — a trophy that confirmed her dominance wasn’t limited to club football.
With three Ballon d’Or Féminin titles, Putellas now stands level with Bonmatí for the most in history. More than a personal milestone, it extends an unbroken six-year streak of Spanish players winning the award — a run that has quietly turned Spain into the undisputed center of gravity for women’s football. That kind of sustained excellence doesn’t happen by accident; it reflects a generation of players who grew up together, won together, and are now making the history books look narrow.
After the ceremony, Putellas moved on — literally. She left Barcelona in the summer to join London City Lionesses, trading the club that built her legacy for a new challenge in a different league. Whether that decision becomes chapter one of a new story or a graceful coda to an already-complete one, only the next few years will say. What the third Ballon d’Or already confirmed: she made her case before the move, not after it.
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