Spanish Ballon d’Or winners – Rodri joins a brief listing

Regardless of producing a few of the greats of the sport lately and the most effective worldwide sides of all time between 2008 and 2012, there have been surprisingly few male Spanish Ballon d’Or winners.

The likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta weren’t rewarded for his or her brilliance with the award, however La Roja did finish a 64 12 months anticipate a males’s Ballon d’Or triumph in 2024. 

Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal can also be a really robust candidate to win it sooner or later. That may even be as quickly as 2025, with Canadian betting websites suggesting {the teenager} is likely one of the early favourites to be subsequent 12 months’s recipient.

It’s a special story within the girls’s sport although and Spanish gamers have completely dominated the Ballon d’Or Feminin lately.

Spanish Ballon d’Or winners

Participant	12 months(s) of Ballon d’Or win
Alfredo Di Stefano	1957, 1959
Luis Suarez	1960
Rodri	2024

Alfredo Di Stefano (1957, 1959)

Though he was born in Argentina, Alfredo Di Stefano turned a Spanish citizen in 1956 and went on to symbolize the Spanish nationwide crew 31 occasions, scoring 23 targets.

It was Di Stefano’s inspirational performances for Actual Madrid that resulted in him choosing up the Ballon d’Or in each 1957 and 1959 although. Di Stefano scored in every of the primary 5 European Cup finals as Los Blancos gained the trophy on every event, beginning the Spanish membership’s love affair with the competitors.

Di Stefano was additionally the primary participant to win the Ballon d’Or twice, with no participant matching his feat till Johan Cruyff within the 1970’s.

Luis Suarez (1960)

Galician-born Luis Suarez began his profession at hometown membership Deportivo La Coruña, however would attain the elite degree throughout a six 12 months spell for Barcelona between 1955 and 1961.

He was largely accountable for ending Actual Madrid’s dominant run of European Cup glory, with two targets on the Bernabeu in 1960 as Barcelona edged out their bitter rivals on combination, earlier than in the end succumbing within the remaining towards Benfica.

Suarez departed Barcelona to play in Italy the 12 months after his Ballon d’Or win and on the time of his demise in January 2024, he remained the one Spanish-born man to have ever picked up the trophy.

Rodri (2024)

Spain’s triumph at Euro 2024, mixed along with his significance in Manchester Metropolis’s newest Premier League title success, meant that Rodri all the time regarded like one of many excellent candidates to win the 2024 Ballon d’Or.

Whereas he confronted stiff competitors from Actual Madrid’s Vincius Junior and Jude Bellingham, the midfielder gained essentially the most votes and claimed “It’s not a victory for me however for Spanish soccer” after successful a prize so a lot of his nice compatriots over time have missed out on.

It was additionally a win for a special kind of participant, along with his means to dictate the play from deep, quite than rack up a great deal of targets and assists, setting him aside from current recipients.

Spanish Ballon d’Or Feminin winners

Participant	12 months(s) of Ballon d’Or win
Alexia Putellas	2021, 2022
Aitana Bonmati	2023, 2024

Alexia Putellas (2021, 2022)

The ladies’s Ballon d’Or is in its infancy by comparability, having solely been awarded on six events to this point.

Barcelona gamers have gained it in every of the final 4 years, with Alexia Putellas claiming the crown in 2021 and 2022. Together with fellow Spain worldwide Jenni Hermoso, she was the driving pressure behind Barcelona’s first UEFA Girls’s Champions League win in 2021.

Aitana Bonmati (2023, 2024)

Midfielder Aitana Bonmati was additionally part of the Barca aspect that made historical past within the 2020/21 season, and she or he has since taken over Putellas’ mantle as the most effective participant on the planet at present.

A 2023 World Cup winner with Spain, she additionally fired in six targets and 6 assists within the 2023/24 Champions League as Barca gained the competitors for the third time, sealing back-to-back Ballon d’Or successes for the 26-year-old.