Women’s Ballon d’Or mess shows soccer has a long way to go،
When World Cup winner Aitana Bonmatí of Spain took to the stage on Monday evening to collect her well-deserved Women’s Ballon d’Or, there was a feeling of disrespect. And not for the first time.
This moment should have been a celebration of women’s football, even if it wasn’t. How could this be possible when the ceremony was scheduled during an international women’s window? Most nominees were unable or allowed to attend due to Nations League commitments or the next day’s Olympic qualifiers. Bonmati was there to represent women’s football – and she had to leave the Spanish camp between matches and run back before facing Switzerland in Zurich on Tuesday night – but her Ballon d’Or was placed on stage after her arrival by a clumsy stagehand as an afterthought; the price apparently forgotten on the sidelines.
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Another problem concerned the person chosen to present her with the award in Paris: Novak Djokovic, the No. 1 tennis player who has previously spoken out against equal pay in the sport and has no connection to women’s soccer.
Why tennis, you ask? Well, if there had been Serena Williams, who spent her entire life raising the profile of women in sports, or Billie Jean King, who continued her legendary advocacy for women’s sports well beyond the end of her own playing career, there would have been no problem. If it had to be a male player, how about outspoken feminist Andy Murray? Spanish great Rafael Nadal would have at least been relevant to Bonmati.
But as Djokovic arrived, the perfectly timed camera shot on Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappé showed a brief look of disbelief that every women’s soccer fan was wearing at that moment.
These fans are used to such disrespect at this point.
The two journalists who invented the Ballon d’Or, Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran, can be forgiven for not having included a Women’s Ballon d’Or in the inaugural award (won by Stanley Matthews in 1956), although women’s football still faces blanket bans. around the world. Indeed, West German Gerd Müller had just won it when the French women’s team played its first official match in 1971.
But while the UEFA Best Women’s Player in Europe award was created in 2013 (two years after its men’s equivalent) and the FIFA World Player of the Year award was created in 2001 (the men’s award dates from 1991) and renamed FIFA The Best Awards in In 2016, progress in integrating women’s football into the Ballon d’Or was slow and it was not until 2018 that women were included.
Football fans will remember the 2018 ceremony for many reasons. On the men’s side, Luka Modrić finally broke the 10-year hold that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi had on the prize. It was also the first year that the Kopa Trophy [for the best player under 21] was distributed, but of course, only on the men’s side. For those who follow women’s football, the memory of Norwegian Ada Hegerberg in her golden dress coming down to the podium to accept the first women’s trophy was there. But that has been overshadowed.
Hegerberg may not have been top of the list for the award – the Lyon striker narrowly beat Pernille Harder – but her parade was quickly met with praise when French DJ Martin Solveig asked her if she knew how to twerk. Hegerberg pursed his lips to say “no,” before turning away.
A wave of criticism followed and (ironically) one of the most virulent was a tennis player: Andy Murray. “What questions did they ask Mbappé and Modric?” he wrote on Instagram. “I would imagine something to do with football. And for anyone who thinks I was overreacting and it was just a joke… that wasn’t the case. I was involved in the sport my whole life and the level of sexism is unreal.”
The men’s Ballon d’Or ceremony continued to grow in size with additional awards added beyond the Kopa Trophy. The Yashin Trophy, intended to celebrate excellence in goalkeeping, was added the following year, and two years later the Gerd Müller Trophy (originally named Forward of the Year, it is unclear for which position it was awarded). is awarded.) Yet there is still no female equivalent. No rewards for goalkeepers, attackers or under-21s. Just the Ballon d’Or, which follows the same questionable voting system as the men’s award.
When the ceremony resumed in 2021, following a hiatus forced by COVID-19, it was scheduled during an international women’s window. During the presentations, Dutch duo Vivianne Miedema and Lieke Martens (who finished fourth and fifth in voting) were actually halfway through a match, while Sam Kerr (who finished third) was said to have slept before the match Australia’s home friendly against the United States. . Although the winner, Alexia Putellas, was on hand to accept the award, she had to return to Seville for a European qualifier against Scotland the following night – an 8-0 drubbing which she started and in which she brand.
Two years later and nothing has changed.
There will always be debates around individual awards, about how the Ballon d’Or has become watered down and, especially in women’s football, who has a say and whether they are truly fans of the game or not. But a sport long condemned to the shadows has seen its moments in the sun repeatedly covered by gray clouds.
From Solveig’s sexism to former Spanish FA chief Luis Rubiales’ unwanted kiss on Jenni Hermoso after the 2023 World Cup final, Monday night was just another to add to the list as the opportunity to celebrate Bonmati’s success was wasted. The Ballon d’Or still has a long way to go as women around the world continue to fight daily for equality and respect. Next year things will have to be different. But I wouldn’t give you hope.
