Tag Archives: Salma Paralluelo

Aitana Bonmatí Among Four Spanish Soccer Players to Make Shortlist for The Best FIFA Women’s Player Honors

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Aitana Bonmatí is among four Spanish soccer players gunning for Best honors.

The 25-year-old Spanish professional footballer, who plays as a midfielder for Liga F club Barcelona and the Spain women’s national team, has made the shortlist of players for The Best FIFA Women’s Player honors.

Aitana Bonmati,Spain, who won the Women’s World Cup for the first time in Australia last month, has three other players on the 12-name shortlist for women’s award in addition to Bonmatí.

Jenni Hermoso, Mapi León and Salma Paralluelo are also in the race to succeed La Roja midfielder Alexia Putellas by winning the trophy.

Linda Caicedo, Rachel Daly, Kadidiatou Diani, Caitlin Foord, Mary Fowler, Alex Greenwood, Amanda Ilestedt, Lauren James, Sam Kerr, Hinata Miyazawa and Keira Walsh are also nominated, with Lindsey Horan the only United States player making it onto the shortlist.

Voting for the eighth annual awards opened on Thursday on FIFA.com and closes in mid-October. National team coaches, captains, journalists and fans make up the list of voters.

Spain’s Aitana Bonmatí Named Best Player at the FIFA Women’s World Cup

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It’s the golden hour for Aitana Bonmatí.

The 25-year-old Spanish professional footballer and Spain midfielder has been awarded the Golden Ball for the best player at the Women’s World Cup after her team edged out England in Sunday’s final.

Aitana Bonmati,

England goalkeeper Mary Earps took home the Golden Glove after keeping three clean sheets at the finals, while Japan‘s Hinata Miyazawa won the Golden Boot and Spain’s Salma Paralluelo was named as the Young Player of the Tournament.

It completes a trophy-laden year for Bonmatí, who won Liga F, the Women’s Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup with her club Barcelona last season.

She was also named as the best player in the Champions League in 2022-23, propelling her into the running to win the next Ballon d’Or, which has been won on the past two occasions by her Spain and Barcelona teammate Alexia Putellas.

Bonmatí’s case for further individual honors will only be strengthened by her performances in Australia and New Zealand as Spain won the Women’s World Cup for the first time, matching the men’s achievement in 2010.

Bonmati started all seven matches for Spain at the tournament, scoring three times and providing two assists.

The Silver Ball and Bronze Ball, for the second- and third-best players, respectively, went to Spain’s Jennifer Hermoso and Sweden’s Amanda Ilestedt.

FIFA‘s technical study group, led by former USWNT coach Jill Ellis, are in charge of deciding the awards.

England’s Earps took home the Golden Glove after keeping clean sheets against Haiti, Denmark and Nigeria, also saving a penalty from Hermoso in the final.

Japan’s Miyazawa scored five times in five games to take the Golden Boot, but her goal scoring streak was cut short by a quarterfinal defeat to Sweden, who went on to finish third.

Finally, 19-year-old Paralluelo was named as the Young Player of the Tournament for her impact on Spain’s run to the trophy.

The Barcelona forward scored the winning goal in the quarterfinal win over the Netherlands and the opener against Sweden in the semifinals.

Olga Carmona Helps Lead Spain into Its First-Ever Women’s World Cup Final

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It’s the Final(s) countdown for Olga Carmona and her fellow teammates…

The 23-year-old Spanish professional footballer netted a goal in the 90th minute to help seal Spain’s place in the country’s first-ever Women’s World Cup final with a dramatic 2-1 win over experienced Sweden.

Olga Carmona,The Swedes, competing in their fifth World Cup semifinal, had allowed only two goals in their five games leading up to the match. In the first half, they continued their stubborn ways, refusing to give up a goal in the first 45 minutes for a fifth match running, and dared Spain to do more with the ball.

Elin Rubensson‘s perfectly timed tackles helped avoid danger at the back, but their loose passes in attack stifled their ability to get at La Roja.

But in the 57th minute, coach Jorge Vilda changed the complexion of the Spain attack, with Salma Paralluelo brought on in place of Alexia Putellas. And it worked, with her immediate intervention enough to tee Alba Redondo up to send a shot into the side netting.

Having opened the scoring in the quarterfinals against Netherlands in the 81st minute, Spain did the same again when the impressive Paralluelo stroked the ball into the bottom corner with the team’s first shot on target.

However, there was still plenty of time for drama, as Sweden’s own super-sub Lina Hurtig got an important touch to knock the ball into Rebecka Blomqvist‘s path for the striker to fire home an 88th-minute equalizer.

The celebrations lasted only a minute though.

After a short corner routine was worked to her outside the box, Carmona, who had been chancing her luck from range all evening, launched the ball over goalkeeper Zećira Musovic and off the underside of the bar.

Spain Women's National Soccer TeamSweden looked to atone for their slack defending in the final stages as they hunted another leveler, but it was La Roja who dug deep and kept their heads under the most intense pressure they’ve ever experienced.

Spain’s players did laps around the pitch after the final whistle and will have a chance to make history in their fourth major tournament under Vilda.