Female Soccer Player of the Year Candidate Aitana Bonmati

Age: 27 Position: Midfielder Teams: Barcelona & Spain

This has proven to be an exceptional year for Aitana Bonmati. She became the first player to claim three women's Ballons d'Or, achieved a domestic treble and reached the Euro 2025 final.

Her pedigree is clear, with an extensive trophy haul across her career as well. She has earned seven league titles, three European crowns, nine Copas de la Reina and five Spanish Super Cups.

While Barcelona were beaten by Arsenal in the Champions League final, and her remarkable return from a bout of viral meningitis shortly before the start of the Euros was not enough to lead Spain to the trophy, it was an notable campaign.

The inventive playmaker netted the goal that beat Germany in the Euros semi-final as Spain made history by advancing to the final for the first time.

She was also named the Champions League's player of the season, registering nine goal contributions in her 11 appearances and netting in their 4-1 semi-final second-leg win at Chelsea.

A former club president: "I think that Aitana does not have a ceiling at the moment. She is a very competitive girl, and the truth is that she is very youthful with everything she has achieved. I believe that the ceiling will be set by her if she persists to be like this, so determined, taking care of herself.

"There are times when you see her running at 11pm at night, so that not too many people can see her. She is running around here in the village. If she continues like that, I think there's no limit to it. I feel that she could evolve into like Lionel Messi with eight Ballons d'Or. She will be able to reach his level."

Bonmati regarding what it means to play for Barcelona: "It's both a source of pride and a duty. We're not only evaluated by our results but also by how we play. Most teams would be content just winning, but we're expected - and we expect ourselves - to win and play well. That's a big obligation."

A top club men's manager: "Aitana Bonmati is a football player who has me completely in love with her for the way she plays. I would say she is like the women's Iniesta."

The owner of a bar dedicated to Bonmati in her home town: "Mostly for being as modest as she is. Her style of play. And she knows how to work as a unit and as a team. Often some of these elite players are more individualistic and they always want to be them, them and them. No, she shares the awards and has demonstrated that in all the galas she went to, recognising her team as the driving force to herself. And, it is because of her personality, her game and her power and her fast-thinking mindset."

While Bonmati created the most chances in Liga F last season, 10 players delivered more assists than her six, including her Barcelona teammates who provided a league-high 11 and 10 assists respectively.

But where Bonmati stood out more than any other player was in the phase before a goal was scored and an assist awarded by consistently providing the pass to the player who assisted the goal, silently starting so many of Barcelona's successful attacks last season.

There isn't much that hasn't been said about Bonmati. She explains her biggest strengths as comprehending the game and finding spaces with and without the ball, in order to identify solutions in every match.

Tactically, this self-assessment holds up flawlessly. It is impressive how much distance Bonmati covers when compared to others. This work-rate combined with her spatial awareness, game IQ and technical quality ensure she constantly solves problems in games.

In possession, she moves to find space in a way that benefits the team, comparable to other players but from a more advanced starting position that often affords players less time and space.

For club and country, Bonmati smartly ran into unorthodox positions, sometimes even leaving her position to move to the opposite side to create an overload. This contradicts what a positional side would normally do but her movement regularly created 3v2 or 2v1 situations.

With a player surplus, her passing and other-worldly small space dribbling becomes nearly impossible to stop.

Her leadership separates her from her peers too.

Her persistent running, particularly in her defensive pressure, indirectly raises the level of intensity in her teams and has the strategic advantage of forcing teams back, stopping them from getting settled attacking possession.

Bonmati intelligently identifies the space she can exploit and with her stamina arrives to create a 2v1 situation for Spain in the wide areas.