Alexia Putellas wins women's Ballon d'Or for second straight year

PARIS — Spanish player Alexia Putellas won the women's Ballon d'Or for the second straight year on Monday following another outstanding season with Barcelona.

Putellas scored 42 goals and delivered 22 assists last season. She became the first player to win the award twice.

With Barcelona, she won the Spanish League and reached the Champions League final. She has been sidelined since July after injuring her left knee and undergoing surgery on the eve of the Women's European Championship.

Putellas beat out fellow forwards Beth Mead of Arsenal and England and Sam Kerr of Chelsea and Australia for the award at the ceremony in Paris. A panel of international journalists chose the winners.

Awarded by France Football magazine, the Ballon d’Or has been given out to men every year since 1956 when Stanley Matthews won. The women’s trophy was created in 2018, and both were canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.

Karim Benzema is the favorite to win the men's trophy that will be announced later Monday.

For the first time this year, the Ballon d’Or was based on achievements from the previous season. It used to be based on performances through calendar years.

In other awards, the Kopa Trophy for the best under-21 player went to 18-year-old Barcelona midfielder Gavi, while Robert Lewandowski won the Gerd Müller award for the best striker of the year.

The Lev Yashin award for best goalkeeper went to Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois.

Ballon d’Or organizers added a humanitarian prize named after the late Brazil midfielder Socrates. The trophy went to Liverpool’s Sadio Mané for his charity work in Senegal including building a hospital and school donations.

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