Alexia Wins Ballon d’Or Féminin
On 26 October 2026, Alexia Putellas walked onto the stage at the London Palladium and collected the Ballon d’Or Féminin for the third time. She beat Ewa Pajor and Khadija Shaw to it, in a year when she was no longer wearing the Barcelona shirt she had defined. It was the latest chapter in a career built as much on resilience as on talent.
From Espanyol to Barcelona
Putellas is from the province of Barcelona and came through the club’s academy. Before she became a Barcelona icon, she won a Copa de la Reina with Espanyol in 2009-10, and later spent a year at Levante before returning to Barcelona in 2012. Over the next 14 seasons, she turned herself from a promising attacker into a midfield general who scored, created and led.
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The Breakthrough
The breakthrough came in 2020-21, when she was Barcelona’s best player as they won their first Champions League and a continental treble. Her Ballon d’Or in 2021 was followed by a second in 2022, after she captained Barcelona to a perfect domestic season and finished as top scorer in the Champions League with 11 goals.
The Struggle
Then came the injury that changed everything. Days before Euro 2022, Putellas tore her anterior cruciate ligament, ending her tournament before it began and keeping her out for most of the following season. Barcelona won the Champions League without her, and she was not even shortlisted for the 2023 Ballon d’Or.
The Comeback
The comeback was not smooth. She played only a bit-part role at the 2023 World Cup, which Spain won by beating England 1-0 amid turmoil over the national federation. In November 2023, a new knee problem led to a second arthroscopy. Contract talks with Barcelona in 2024 were tense, and she eventually signed a two-year deal with an option for a third season.
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Some Hurt Left
By 2024-25, she was back to her best, but football still found ways to hurt her. Barcelona lost the Champions League final to Arsenal, and Spain lost the Euro 2025 final to England. That autumn, reports said PSG made a record approach for her, but she stayed at Barcelona.
The Farewell
Her final season at Barcelona was spectacular. She captained the team to a continental quadruple of Liga F, the Copa de la Reina, the Spanish Super Cup and the Champions League, and she scored seven goals with seven assists in the Champions League. UEFA’s technical observers named her the competition’s best player. After the final in Oslo, where Barcelona beat Lyon, she said her club had taken the women’s team “further than we ever imagined.”
A Club Record
She left having scored 232 goals, a club record, and won 38 trophies, including four Champions Leagues and ten Spanish league titles. She also made 508 appearances, the second-most in the women’s team’s history. In July 2026, she joined London City Lionesses.
Why It Matters
Putellas now shares the women’s record of three Ballon d’Or wins with her former teammate Aitana Bonmatí. She is also the first player from a Women’s Super League club to win it. More than the trophies, her career shows how an elite player can be forced out of the spotlight by injury and still come back to the top.
Key achievements
Ballon d’Or Féminin: 2021, 2022, 2026
UEFA Women’s Champions League: 2021, 2023, 2024, 2026 with Barcelona
Women’s World Cup: 2023 with Spain
UEFA Women’s Nations League: 2023-24 and 2025 with Spain
Barcelona records: 232 goals, 38 trophies, 10 league titles
Sources: ESPN, Associated Press, Foot Africa, Goal, Ara, theScore, FotMob.
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