da betano casino： The Golden Ball will stay in Catalunya after the Barcelona and Spain midfielder succeeded her team-mate by picking up the trophy in Paris
da roleta： After winning the Ballon d'Or Feminin for two years in a row, Barcelona's Alexia Putellas relinquished her crown on Monday after an ACL injury ruled her out of almost the entire 2022-23 season. The trophy, though, will not be going anywhere, with Putellas' team-mate for both Barca and Spain, Aitana Bonmati, claiming the crown.
The race for the Golden Ball was intriguing because, like Putellas, many of the game's best were sidelined for significant periods with injuries – such as Lyon star Catarina Macario and the Arsenal duo of Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema, meaning they missed the Women's World Cup and allowed new stars to emerge.
GOAL began tracking the race in March 2022, but by the time Spain lifted the World Cup, it was clear that Bonmati would be picking up the award. Below are our final power rankings – for the official rankings, click here.
(C)Getty images15Hinata Miyazawa (Mynavi Sendai)
Heading into the World Cup, Hinata Miyazawa would never in her wildest dreams have believed that she would be nominated for the Ballon d'Or. However, she became impossible to ignore following her incredible exploits Down Under.
Playing at the tip of Japan's wildly-effective midfield diamond, she plundered five goals as Japan lit up the competition before being knocked out in the quarter-finals by Sweden. Miyazawa will be hoping to have a similar impact in the Women's Super League this season, having subsequently sealed a move to Manchester United.
She won't be winning the Ballon d'Or, but to even be up for the award is an incredible achievement, considering she was playing in Japan's second tier last season.
AdvertisementGetty14Mapi Leon (Barcelona)
Widely considered the best centre-back in the women's game, Mapi Leon had another outstanding season as Barcelona did the treble. That said, it's tough for defenders to be recognised in these awards and she will likely suffer from voters looking towards other stand-out performers from the Catalans instead, especially with her choosing not to go to the World Cup.
Getty13Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg)
Lena Oberdorf was recognised in the individual awards last year after helping Germany to reach the Women's Euros final, and although she and her country crashed out in the group stages of the 2023 Women's World Cup, she should accumulate some votes after a great season with Wolfsburg.
The 21-year-old was outstanding in holding midfield as the German side won another domestic cup and reached the Women's Champions League final.
Getty Images12Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns)
Named the Most Valuable Player for the NWSL's 2022 season, becoming the youngest player ever to win the accolade, Smith opened the scoring in the Championship game in October as the Portland Thorns went on to beat the Kansas City Current to the big trophy.
She's already started the new campaign in electric fashion, netting a hat-trick against that same opponent in her second match of the year, and carried that into the Women's World Cup when she was directly involved in all three of the USWNT's goals against Vietnam in their tournament opener.
The reigning champions suffered an historic last-16 exit, though, in which Smith missed her penalty in the shootout. Sadly, that disappointing campaign is likely to affect her in the voting.