By Kehinde Olusegun
Manchester City midfielder Rodri becomes first Premier League player since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2008 to be crowned Ballon d’Or winner while Barcelona star Aitana Bonmati won the women’s award for second year running.
Aitana Bonmatí Conca
Aitana Bonmati Conca is a Catalan professional footballer from Spain who plays as a midfielder for Liga F Football club Barcelona and the Spain national team. She has also represented the Catalonia Region. She is considered one of the best players in women’s football, and one of the greatest of all time.
Aitana Bonmatí was born on 18 January 1998 in Vilanova i la Geltrú, the capital of the Garraf comarca of Catalonia, Spain and was raised in Sant Pere de Ribes in Garraf. Her parents are teachers of the Catalan language and literature, and instilled a love of reading in her from an early age.
Bonmati began her football journey in the famed FC Barcelona youth academy, La Masia. She originally played in mixed soccer teams as a younger girl. She later joined Barcelona’s youth academy at age 14 in 2012.
At 17, she made her professional debut wearing the iconic Blaugrana jersey. As a midfielder, she has gained fame for her club career in the Spanish Women’s Primera División with FC Barcelona beginning in 2016. She won the Copa de la Reina de Fútbol title in 2017 . She previously finished as a runner-up with the Spain U-17 women’s side at the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
Blessed with great technical ability, astute vision, and an eye for goal, the midfielder has been instrumental in Barça’s near-dominance of European football in recent years. They have won four consecutive Spanish Liga F titles and two UEFA Women’s Champions League crowns in three years. She helped lead Spain’s national women’s team to the Cyprus Cup title in 2018 and was an integral part of Spain’s victory at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia/ New Zealand in 2023. Aitana who scored three times and laid on two assists during the tournament, took home the Adidas Golden Ball Award for the tournament’s best player following a string of exceptional displays at the heart of the Spanish midfield as they lifted the trophy.
Aitana Bonmati was awarded the 2024 Ballon d’Or, also winning the 2023 Award. She won the FIFA Best Women’s Player Award for the 2022/ 23 season and made it to the FIFA Fifpro World Best Eleven of 2023, one of two Spanish women in the list and is the 2024 winner of Laureus World Sports Award for Sports Woman of the Year
Her style of play and dedication to her sport is influencing girls on the football pitch world wide
Rodrigo Hernández Cascante
Rodrigo Hernández Cascante also known as Rodri or Rodrigo was born on 22 June 1996, he is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club Manchester City and the Spain national team. Known for his passing, playmaking and physical attributes, he is widely regarded as one of the best players in the world.
Rodri beat the Real Madrid trio of Vinicius Junior, Dani Carvajal and Jude Bellingham to the top honour at the 2024 Ballon d’or Awards.
After stints with Villarreal and Atlético Madrid in La Liga, Rodri joined Premier League club Manchester City in 2019. He helped the team win four consecutive league titles in the 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24 seasons. In the 2022–23 season, he was part of the team which claimed a historic continental treble. This treble included City’s first UEFA Champions League title, with Rodri scoring the only goal in the final, and being named the tournament’s Player of the Season.
Rodri, a former youth international, made his debut for the senior national team in 2018 and represented his country at UEFA Euro 2020, the 2022 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2024. He won the UEFA Nations League in 2023, being named the best player of the final tournament, and was an integral part in Spain’s victory at Euro 2024, for which he was named Player of the Tournament.
While a Villarreal youth player, Rodri studied at the Jaume I University in nearby Castellón de la Plana for four years to gain a degree in business administration and management.
Rodri, who picked up an ACL injury in September against Arsenal, enjoyed the standout season of his career in 2023-24, winning a fourth consecutive Premier League title and lifting the Euro 2024 trophy with Spain.
The 28-year-old won the Best Player award of the tournament in Germany last summer despite being forced off at half-time in the final against England.
The last time Rodri lost a Premier League game was a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham in February 2023.
His 2024 Ballon d’Or makes him the second male Spanish player in history to achieve this feat after Luis Suárez, who did so in 1960. He is the first Manchester City player in history and the first defensive midfielder since 1956 to win the award.
