Women's Footballer of the Year Contender Aitana Bonmati

Years Old: 27 Role: Midfielder Clubs: Barcelona and Spain

It has been an exceptional year for Aitana Bonmati. She became the first player to win three women's Ballons d'Or, achieved a domestic treble and advanced to the Euro 2025 final.

Her pedigree is evident, with an impressive trophy haul throughout her career as well. She has won seven league titles, three European crowns, nine Copas de la Reina and five Spanish Super Cups.

Although Barcelona were defeated 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 impressive campaign.

The inventive playmaker netted the goal that beat Germany in the Euros semi-final as Spain achieved a milestone by progressing to the final for the first time.

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

Tino Herrero: "I believe that Aitana does not have a ceiling at the moment. She is a very driven 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 continues to be like this, so competitive, taking care of herself.

"There are times when you see her training 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 attain 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 required - and we expect ourselves - to win and play well. That's a big responsibility."

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 top-tier players are more self-focused and they always want to be them, them and them. No, she distributes the awards and has proven 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 quick reaction mindset."

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

But where Bonmati excelled 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, quietly initiating so many of Barcelona's successful attacks last season.

There isn't much that hasn't been said about Bonmati. She describes her biggest strengths as understanding the game and locating spaces with and without the ball, in order to find solutions in every match.

Tactically, this self-assessment holds up flawlessly. It is remarkable how much distance Bonmati covers when compared to others. This effort level combined with her field intelligence, game IQ and skill level ensure she constantly solves problems in games.

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

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

With a player surplus, her passing and exceptional small space dribbling becomes almost impossible to stop.

Her leadership distinguishes her from her contemporaries too.

Her relentless running, particularly in her defensive pressure, secondarily raises the level of intensity in her teams and has the strategic advantage of pushing teams back, preventing them from getting settled attacking possession.

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