London City Lionesses and Spain star Alexia Putellas has won the Ballon d'Or for a third time after seeing off competition from former Barcelona teammate Ewa Pajor and Manchester City's Khadija Shaw to claim the prize on Monday.
Putellas previously won the award in 2021 and 2022 and becomes the second woman to win it three times after Barça's Aitana Bonmatí, who was named the world's best player in in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
"All the boys and girls around the world -- if you love football and if you want to play football, play football," Putellas said.
"It doesn't matter if you're a boy or if you're a girl. It doesn't matter where you come from. Don't listen if someone tells you, you can't do it. Believe in yourself."
Putellas -- who left Barça after 14 years at the club to join the Lionesses last summer -- was the outstanding player as the Spanish giants won the Champions League last season.
She scored eight goals and provided seven assists in 11 appearances as Barça were crowned European champions for a fourth time.
The midfielder was also the key player as Barça completed a quadruple for the second time in the team's history, adding the Liga F, Copa de la Reina and Spanish Supercopa titles to the Champions League.
Winning the Ballon d'Or on the back of those performances completes Putellas' incredible comeback to the pinnacle of the game after suffering an ACL injury in 2022.
That injury massively effected her role at Barça over the following years, limiting her to just 33 appearances over the next two seasons, but she eventually re-established herself as a starter again and re-found her pre-injury level. However, after years of sustained success with Barça, Putellas took the surprise decision to move to the Lionesses at the end of the 2025-26 campaign, making her the first active Women's Super League player to win the Ballon d'Or.
Since its inauguration in 2018, it has also been won by Ada Hegerberg and Megan Rapinoe.
Pajor and Shaw completed the podium alongside Putellas on Monday, with last year's winner Bonmatí not even nominated after missing the majority of the season with a broken leg.
Poland striker Pajor also played an important role in Barça's success in Europe, top scoring in the Champions League with 11 goals as she ended the campaign with 31 strikes across all competitions.
Jamaica's Shaw scored 27 goals in 32 appearances as City won the WSL and the FA Cup.
Vicky López, meanwhile, was named the Women's Young Talent of the Year for the second year running as Barça dominated the women's awards.
She faced strong competition from teammate Clara Serrajordi, Felicia Schröder, Lily Yohannes and Veerfe Buurman.
Rounding off Barça's success, Pere Romeu was named as Women's Coach of the Year, Cata Coll picked up the prize for Goalkeeper of the Year and the women's team was also named Women's Club of the Year.
The Women's Striker of the Year did not go to a Barça player, though, with CF Pachuca and Mexico's Charlyn Corral claiming the award.