Alexia Putellas acquires women’s Ballon d’Or award above 3 Canadians, others

Key takeaways: 

• Sinclair, Lawrence, Fleming were in the mix; Messi wins the men’s award for the 7th season.
• Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas on Monday takes the women’s Ballon d’Or honour as the world’s best player. 
• Christine Sinclair, Ashley Lawrence and Jessie Fleming, who got Olympic gold with Canada this preceding summer, were amongst the other players who chose.

Alexia Putellas wins the women’s Ballon d’Or and Messi wins the men’s Ballon d’Or: 

Alexia Putellas acquired the women’s Ballon d’Or award for the initial time on Monday after an excellent season with Barcelona and Spain.

The 27-year-old midfielder assisted Barca to acquire the treble and scored 26 goals and 16 assists in 42 matches overall. She made it in the Champions League final versus Chelsea, and in August she was entitled UEFA women’s athlete of the year.

“I’m very emotional, it’s a very special moment,” she spoke at the Paris ceremony by a translator. “I would like to start by thanking all my teammates, especially my current Barcelona teammates. For me, it’s a collective success.” Source – cbc.ca

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The only former women’s award winners are Norway striker Ada Hegerberg in 2018, and U.S. striker Megan Rapinoe in 2019. The 2020 awards were called off because the coronavirus pandemic interrupted the season.

Christine Sinclair, Ashley Lawrence and Jessie Fleming, three stalwarts of Canada’s Olympic gold medal-winning team in Tokyo this preceding summer, were in the mix to be declared the world’s top football player — the primary time Canadians have been chosen for the prestigious honour.

Putellas totalled 186 points to end far ahead of club and country teammate Jenni Hermoso on 84.

Hermoso scored 31 goals to top the Spanish first-line scoring charts for a third consecutive season. Hermoso was the joint-top netter in the Champions League with Chelsea’s Fran Kirby on six goals.