London City's Putellas wins record-equalling third Ballon d'Or

Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas has won the Ballon d'Or Feminin for a record-equalling third time, keeping the prize in Spanish hands for a sixth consecutive year.

Putellas, 32, captained Barcelona to Champions League glory as part of a quadruple in 2025-26, before joining Women's Super League (WSL) side London City Lionesses in July.

Putellas joins Spain team-mate Aitana Bonmati on three Ballon d'Or Feminin crowns - her former Barcelona colleague won the award in 2023, 2024 and 2025 after Putellas did so in 2021 and 2022.

The past six Ballons d'Or have been won by the Spanish pair, with Norway's Ada Hegerberg (2018) and Megan Rapinoe of the United States (2019) the only non-Spaniards to claim the prize.

Putellas' latest victory caps a remarkable return to the pinnacle of world football after suffering a career-threatening anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in 2022.

She collected the most votes from an international panel of journalists across Fifa's top-50 ranked countries, with Barcelona striker Ewa Pajor coming second and Manchester City forward Khadija Shaw third.

While Barcelona are always overwhelming favourites to win the three competitions on offer in Spain, Putellas' performances last season showed that she is still among the world's elite.

Nicknamed 'La Reina' - meaning the queen - Putellas scored 21 goals and provided 13 assists in all competitions, ranking her third and second respectively among players across Europe's top five leagues.

Seven of those goals came in the Women's Champions League as Barcelona claimed a fourth continental title in six seasons.

Only Pernille Harder (eight), Alessia Russo (nine) and Ewa Pajor (11) scored more, all of whom are strikers by trade.

But Putellas' contributions to Barcelona's attacking play went far beyond scoring goals herself.

In Liga F - which Barcelona won for a seventh consecutive season - she finished joint-sixth for assists (seven) and fourth for open-play chances created (40).

Across Europe's top five leagues, only Claudia Pina (199), Vicky Lopez (183) and Georgia Stanway (168) recorded more sequence involvements ending in an open-play shot than Putellas (151).

In all competitions, she created more chances (89, 19 of which were big chances) and completed more passes ending in the final third (965) than any other player in Liga F, the Champions League, Copa de la Reina and Supercopa de Espana.

Only Bayern Munich's Klara Buhl created as many chances as Putellas in the Champions League last season (36), the most by a player in a single edition of the competition since Caroline Graham Hansen in 2021-22 (38).

Putellas was born and grew up in the Catalan municipality of Mollet del Valles, about 12 miles north-east of Barcelona.

She began playing football in the street, and soon became a Barcelona fan and a regular attendee at Camp Nou.

With matches always on the TV at home, former Spain and Barcelona star Andres Iniesta and Brazilian duo Rivaldo and Ronaldinho quickly became her idols.

After attending a summer football camp run by Xavi and playing for local side CE Sabadell, Putellas spent a year at La Masia, Barcelona's famous youth academy.

Spells at Espanyol and Levante followed the disbandment of her girls team, before she eventually returned to Barca in 2012.

Cue the start of a 14-year career with her childhood club during which she won 38 trophies, including 10 league titles and four European cups.

But after winning the Ballon d'Or for the first time in 2021, one of the toughest moments of Putellas' career came when she suffered an ACL injury on the eve of Euro 2022, ruling her out of the tournament.

Though she retained the Ballon d'Or later that year, it took a while for her to return to her best level. Playing only a bit-part role in Spain's triumphant 2023 World Cup campaign would have stung.

After scoring in the 2024 Champions League final and improving further the following season, in 2025-26 she shouldered much of Barcelona's creative burden as Aitana Bonmati missed five months through injury and ended the season a quadruple winner.

If that was not enough, the midfielder scored twice in a 4-0 thrashing of England in June that secured Spain's place at the 2027 World Cup at the Lionesses' expense.

With her contract at Barcelona expiring and keen for a fresh challenge, Putellas made the decision to leave her childhood club. She, and her fans, were distraught.

She had several offers from England, Mexico and the United States, but joined the ambitious project of US billionaire Michelle Kang 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," Putellas told BBC's Women's Football Weekly podcast in August.

With three goals and one assist in seven WSL games for her new club, it is clear Putellas is still deserving of her nickname.