Arsenal stars miss out to Bonmati in Ballon d’Or voting | OneFootball

Aitana Bonmati (FC Barcelona)

Two Arsenal stars finished in the top three of the voting for the women’s Ballon d’Or, recognising the best female player in the world over the last season – but they missed out to Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati, winning the award for the third consecutive year.

Bonmati’s compatriot Mariona Caldentey finished second, in recognition of a year in which she helped the Gunners win the UEFA Women’s Champions League and got Spain to the final of the Women’s Euros.

And Alessia Russo of two-time European champions England finished third – the first time she has been nominated for the prize.

The other nominees with UK links

Two other Arsenal players made it into the top ten. It was a fifth-place finish for Chloe Kelly, who joined the club on loan in January after a difficult time at Manchester City and proceeded to play her way into the Lionesses squad for the summer.

And England captain Leah Williamson came in seventh after leading her team to a second consecutive European Championships under head coach Sarina Wiegman, who was named the 2025 Johan Cruyff Trophy winner.

Lucy Bronze, who helped Chelsea to a domestic treble and then played the Euros with a fractured leg, came ninth, and Hannah Hampton, already named the inaugural Lev Yachine Trophy winner, came tenth.

Chelsea’s Sandy Baltimore of France was 15th, and her club team-mate Johanna Rytting Kaneryd of Sweden was 23rd.

There were a trio of other Arsenal players nominated: Emily Fox, who came 25th, Frida Leonhardsen Maanum, who came 27th, and Steph Catley, who came 29th.

Caroline Weir of Real Madrid, the first Scottish woman to be nominated for the award, came 30th.

The previous women’s Ballon d’Or winners

Bonmati came out on top of the rankings in 2024, beating her Barcelona team-mates Caroline Graham Hansen and Salma Paralluelo to the prize.

The first year she won was 2023, when she was ranked ahead of Chelsea’s Sam Kerr and Paralluelo, who again finished third.

Spain’s Alexia Putellas won in 2021, with Jenni Hermoso in second and Kerr in third, and again in 2022, when Beth Mead was second and Kerr third.

The prize was not awarded in 2020.

Megan Rapinoe is the only American winner thus far, picking up the trophy in 2019. Lucy Bronze, then at Lyon, came second, with Alex Morgan in third.

And Norway’s Ada Hegerberg was the first-ever winner of the women’s Ballon d’Or, in 2018, when she was ranked ahead of Pernille Harder and Dzsenifer Marozsan.