Ballon d'Or Hattrick for Aitana Bonmati

Ballon d’Or Hattrick for Aitana Bonmati

This week was the Ballon d’Or ceremony, a yearly award show held to crown the best in women’s and men’s soccer. The Ballon d’Or is a prestigious award that is relatively new to the women’s side, with only four women having won it to date. Part of that reason is that the award was introduced in 2018 for women, and the second part is that Aitana Bonmati has dominated the past three years. Just like she does for Barca and Spain, Bonmati has gotten the hat-trick of Ballon d’Or. That’s three years in a row 2023,2024,2025, that she has been crowned the best player in the world. An achievement that has only been done by Lionel Messi, winning four in a row from 09-12, but has never been done on the women’s side until now. Although some critics may argue that she may not have deserved it this year, as England forward Alessia Russo had an all-around better season. Russo won the Champions League final with Arsenal, beating Barcelona. As well as winning back-to-back Euros with England, scoring in the final to beat Bonmati and Spain. This is where it gets tricky because Russo’s campaign was better. Unfortunately, on the Women’s side, many committee members who vote do not watch women’s soccer as much as they do the men’s, so some votes are based on popularity rather than the best season. Hopefully, as the women’s game continues to grow, so does the consistency of voting. Regardless, Bonmati had a great season with Barca and also won Player of the Tournament in the Euros, which contributed to her historic third Ballon d’Or win, completing the hat-trick.

Semi-Finals get Chippy

The WNBA playoffs have been nothing short of pure entertainment. Both semi-final match-ups have been close, needing four out of five games to decide the series winners. In the Aces vs Fever match-up, it has been a battle in the trenches between two South Carolina alumni, Fevers Aliyah Boston and Aces A’Ja Wilson. In each game, both were battling against each other in the post and at times even trash-talking each other after trading fouls. The competitive banter between the two went in favor of A’Ja Wilson and the Aces as the 2025 MVP carried the Aces to a 2-1 lead. On Sunday in game four, the Fever played lights out and won. With the series now tied 2-2, it forces a winner-take-all game five back in Las Vegas. The series between the Minnesota Lynx and the Phoenix Mercury has been full of competitive trash-talking and even more blowups. The Lynx and Mercury have plenty of playoff history going back to prime Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi, when both were winning championships. Now, a new era of playoff beef has begun. For Phoenix, they have battled hard to take the lead, including a historic 20-point comeback win in game two. But it was in game three where tensions boiled over. A major talk in the playoffs has been the inconsistency of the refs; a lack of foul calls has resulted in more physical plays and more injuries. In game three, Lynx star Napheesa Collier had zero fouls called for her, but many were called against her. In the final thirty seconds, Collier got the ball and, as she tried to dribble, passed Mercury player Alyssa Thomas went for the steal. They knocked knees, but Thomas was able to get through and score a layup on the steal. After the collision, Collier went down in pain. Once, Lynx Coach Cheryl Reeve stormed onto the court midplay to chew out the referee for missing the foul call on Thomas. Reeve received her 2nd tech and was ejected from the game. Her own players and staff had to pull her off the court, away from the refs, and into the tunnel. Mercury went on to win the game and go up 2-1 in the series. This Sunday, the Mercury took full advantage of a depleted and coachless Lynx team. The Mercury defeated the Lynx 86-81 and is heading back to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2021.

NWSL Weekend Score update:

• KC Current 4-1 Chicago Stars

• Gotham FC 3-0 Portland Thorns

• Orlando Pride 2-1 SD Wave

• Racing Louisville 1-0 Angel City FC

• Utah Royals 2-0 Bay FC

• Washington Spirit 4-0 Houston Dash

• Seattle Reign 2-1 NC Courage