Women's Ballon d'Or 2023: Spain dominate nominations shortlist
Midfielder Aitana Bonmati is the favourite to pick up the award.
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00:00 It's been another groundbreaking year for women's football. Spain won the sport's biggest prize
00:05 and plenty of players have had seasons to remember. But who will be crowned the best
00:09 and win the 2023 Ballon d'Or Femina?
00:12 Hello there and welcome to Football Now from Doha. Now we are just a few days away from learning who
00:22 will win the Ballon d'Or 2023 in both the men's and women's categories. Last week we took a look
00:27 at the men's award, so this week we're focusing on the contenders for the best female player in the
00:32 world right now. It has been another year of huge growth for the sport, so let's firstly remind
00:36 ourselves about some of the highlights from the women's game in 2023. Yeah I think it's been an
00:41 absolutely massive kind of year. There's obviously all the stuff on the pitch like saying the Women's
00:46 World Cup was obviously the pinnacle of anything that we've seen in the women's game so far.
00:51 Topped the Euros last summer that was a huge success in England and Australia and New Zealand
00:56 just took that to another level you know this summer with the World Cup so certainly that itself
01:02 was was brilliant to see in the women's game. Yeah some pretty powerful moments in there proving that
01:06 it really has been a groundbreaking year for the sport and at the end of it all there's plenty of
01:10 talented footballers that have been nominated for this year's award. So let's now take a look
01:14 at the shortlist. After a dominant year for Spanish football in the women's game it's no
01:19 surprise to find the 30-player shortlist packed with talent from the World Cup winning side.
01:23 Aitana Bonmati was the player of the tournament and is the strong favourite. She's joined by
01:28 another four of her teammates in Olga Carmona, Patricia Gajaro, Mathy Leon and Salma Paraloelo.
01:35 The team they defeated in the final England are also well represented with four names of their
01:39 own. They include Georgia Stanway who has since moved to Bayern Munich and goalkeeper Mary Erbs
01:45 who was the subject of a world record bid at domestic level this summer but was eventually
01:49 turned down by current club Manchester United. Elsewhere around Europe Germany's Alexandra Popp
01:55 who shows no sign of slowing down at 32 years old is nominated. She scored 31 goals last season in
02:01 the Frankfurt Bundesliga. She's joined by teammates Joa Pahor and Lena Oberdorff. Ballon d'Or nominee
02:07 regulars Khadidou, Diani and Wendy Reynard of Lyon are in there too. While Sweden's strong
02:12 World Cup campaign seems Amanda Hjelmstad and Fridolina Rolfo nominated.
02:18 Outside of Europe, Assisat Ossosuala is the solo African representative whilst Hailey Rasso and
02:24 Sam Kerr are flying the flag for recent World Cup co-hosts Australia. Sophia Smith is the only name
02:29 from the United States following their disappointing campaign. But just 18 years old Colombia's Linda
02:34 Saicedo is the youngest name on the list. She's another of the star names to be rewarded for a
02:39 fine tournament at Australia New Zealand. I think this year's list is a really good one.
02:45 There's no players that I think should be on the list that aren't really in terms of ones that can
02:52 actually win the award. You know you mentioned obviously Eitana Bonmati who for me is obviously
02:57 a no-brainer. Then you've got the likes of Sam Kerr who obviously won you know four successive
03:02 WCL title with Chelsea and led the way there. And then you look at you know a lot of players in that
03:07 Spain squad you could pick any of them really and actually the other standout for me is one who
03:10 wasn't at the World Cup. She was one of the players who chose not to go and that's Maffie
03:14 Leon who for me is the best centre-back in the world. And her performances for Barcelona reaching
03:19 the women's Champions League and winning it again for me she played a huge role in that.
03:24 You know the Lionesses quartet that are in there as well I don't think anyone complained about
03:28 those players being in there particularly Georgia Stanway who's had a brilliant year for Bayern
03:31 Munich. And obviously goalkeeper Mary Earps who was voted FIFA best goalkeeper last year and
03:37 she's arguably gone up another level this year. So yeah I think there's a really good list of names
03:41 and obviously those Spanish as I said those Spanish players up there I think would be the
03:46 kind of the heavy favourites for it. Yes so Spain lead the way in terms of nominations despite the
03:52 fact that many of their players are still on strike following that incident with Luis Rubiales
03:56 at the Women's World Cup final. It is a remarkable achievement given the circumstances and one that
04:01 proves just how talented this group of players really are. I feel like the Federation would love
04:06 to take credit and say that they're the reason why Spain won the World Cup but pretty much anybody
04:13 who follows women's football closely in Spain will tell you that's really not the case. It's
04:19 actually the other way around where at club level things have been progressing and developing for
04:24 the last several years now to the point that it's actually had a spillover effect. So I think it's
04:30 a really wonderful reflection of Spanish football and also I think if you look at all of the players
04:35 who actually play in Spain there's eight players from that list in total six from Barca and two
04:40 from Real Madrid. That also speaks to just the overall health of the league and so I think a
04:46 lot of credit goes down to what's happening more on a domestic level in that regard. Now whilst the
04:51 men's Ballon d'Or has been part of the game since way back in 1956 the Ballon d'Or Femina is just
04:57 five years old but in that short time there have been some huge names to have lifted that famous
05:01 trophy. So let's remind ourselves of some of them starting with the Norwegian legend. Ada Hegerberg
05:07 became the first player to win the Ballon d'Or Femina doing so in 2018 pipping fellow Scandinavian
05:12 Peniel Harder to the trophy. A World Cup win meant the shortlist was dominated by players from the
05:17 United States in 2019. Alex Morgan making it to third place with Megan Rapinoe taking the top
05:23 spot. The competition was put on hold in 2020 due to Covid-19 but 2021 was all about the Spanish
05:30 stars. Barcelona's Jenny Hermoso in second with her teammate Alexia Pateas claiming the prize.
05:36 Pateas became the first player to retain the title the following year despite an agonising ACL
05:42 injury that kept her out of the European Championships. Yes some real legends in there and whoever
05:47 wins this year will have cemented their place in their history books too. That is all we have time
05:51 for on this week's show. Do let us know your thoughts at home using the hashtag #footballnowballondorfemina
05:56 and we'll see you at the same time next week. Bye for now!