Ballon D’Or 2024 winner Aitana Bonmatí reacts to photo from her football roots: ‘I hope that girls see themselves in me’
After winning the Ballon D'Or for the second year in a row, the FC Barcelona and Spain midfielder looked back to her roots in Catalan grassroots football with CD Ribes.
Football
Aitana Bonmatí was once a football-mad kid in a Catalan town of barely 30,000 people. Now she is a two-time Ballon D’Or winner.
It was 2005 and a seven-year-old Bonmatí had caught the attention of the town team, CD Ribes, located in Sant Pere de Ribes 41km down the coast from Barcelona.
She had to fight for her place in a male-dominated environment, such as her parents’ battle for their child to sport her mother’s surname first rather than the Spanish norm of having your father’s surname ahead.
That was the first step of what has turned out to be a glistening career, later moving to CF Cubelles before going on to join FC Barcelona’s famed ‘La Masia’ academy aged 14.
She has been at Barça ever since, and the rest is history.
Aitana Bonmatí: ‘I hope to inspire many girls and boys’
Bonmatí won the Ballon D’Or 2024 on Monday (28 October) for the second consecutive year, named the best women’s footballer over the past 12 months in an award ceremony in Paris.
Minutes after lifting the coveted trophy, Olympics.com showed the midfielder a photo of her playing days at Ribes, a gratifying trip down memory lane.
“Today I hope to be a role model for many girls starting out,” Bonmatí said. “I hope that this can reach many households and that many girls and boys see themselves in me.
“I hope to be able to inspire many young girls and boys too. Like the Aitana in the photo, who definitely needed female role medals and did not have any at the time.”
Bonmatí was a crucial cog of the Barcelona team that won all four major titles that they contended last season, including a third Champions League title where she scored the opening goal in the final.
“I always like to remember where I come from,” Bonmatí continued. “I thank Ribes who welcomed me in, and to Cubelles afterwards, in all those years that I played with boys. And when I look back, I see this full journey that I have had up to this day.”
Bonmatí’s stunning season
Bonmatí has become the second woman to win back-to-back Ballon D’Ors, joining Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas who achieved the feat in 2022.
The midfielder made her Olympic debut at Paris 2024, helping world champions Spain to fourth place.
Bonmatí scored 19 goals in 40 appearances last season for Barça as they won a fifth straight Spanish league title.
Her standout performance came in the Champions League final in Bilbao, where she scored in the 2-0 triumph against Olympique Lyonnais.