London City Lionesses and Spain star Alexia Putellas has won the Ballon d’Or for a third time after seeing off competition from former Barcelona teammates Ewa Pajor and Patri Guijarro to claim the prize on Monday.
Putellas previously won the award in 2021 and 2022 and becomes the second woman to win it three times after Barça’s Aitana BonmatÃ, who was named the world’s best player in in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Putellas — who left Barça after 14 years at the club to join the Lionesses last summer — was the outstanding player as the Spanish giants won the Champions League last season.
She scored eight goals and provided seven assists in 11 appearances as Barça were crowned European champions for a fourth time.
The midfielder was also the key player as Barça completed a quadruple for the second time in the team’s history, adding the Liga F, Copa de la Reina and Spanish Supercopa titles to the Champions League.
After years of sustained success with Barça, Putellas took the surprise decision to move to the Lionesses at the end of the 2025-26 campaign, making her the first active Women’s Super League player to win the Ballon d’Or.
Since its inauguration in 2018, it has also been won by Ada Hegerberg and Megan Rapinoe.
Pajor and Guijarro completed the podium alongside Putellas on Monday, with last year’s winner Bonmatà not even nominated after missing the majority of the season with a broken leg.
Poland striker Pajor also played an important role in Barça’s success in Europe, the top scorer in the Champions League with 11 goals as she ended the campaign with 31 strikes across all competitions.
Guijarro’s contribution is harder to quantify in numbers, but many of her current and former teammates rate her among the very best players in the world.
Putellas has called her the “best defensive midfielder” in the game, while Barça midfielder Vicky López said “Patri doesn’t have a Ballon d’Or, but she should have one.”
López, meanwhile, was named the Women’s Young Talent of the Year for the second year running as Barça dominated the women’s awards.
She faced strong competition from teammate Clara Serrajordi, Felicia Schröder, Lily Yohannes and Veerfe Buurman.
Rounding off Barça’s success, Pere Romeu was named as Women’s Coach of the Year, Cata Coll picked up the prize for Goalkeeper of the Year and the women’s team was also named Women’s Club of the Year.
The Women’s Striker of the Year did not go to a Barça player, though, with CF Pachuca and Mexico‘s Charlyn Corral claiming the award.
