- In full:
- Aitana BonmatĂ i Conca
- Born:
- January 18, 1998, Sant Pere de Ribes, Catalonia, Spain (age 28)
Aitana BonmatĂ
What is Aitana BonmatĂâs nationality?
How did Aitana BonmatĂ become famous?
What achievements did Aitana BonmatĂ have in the 2022â23 season?
What was Aitana BonmatĂâs role in the Las 15 protest?
What major international tournaments has Aitana BonmatĂ won with Spain?
How many goals has Aitana BonmatĂ scored in her career?
Aitana BonmatĂ (born January 18, 1998, Sant Pere de Ribes, Catalonia, Spain) is a professional womenâs football (soccer) player from Catalonia who plays as an attacking midfielder for FC Barcelona in Liga F (Spanish womenâs football league) and for the Spanish national team. She is regarded as one of the greatest womenâs football players of all time. BonmatĂ has won multiple major individual awards during her career and was the most decorated footballer, male or female, in the 2022â23 season. She is renowned for her versatility, technical artistry, and intelligence on the pitch. Football experts have praised her composure, passing accuracy, and vital contributions in crucial matches.
Early life and education
BonmatĂ grew up in the town of Sant Pere de Ribes on the outskirts of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. Her parents are Vicent Conca i FerrĂ s and Rosa BonmatĂ Guidonet, educators specializing in the Catalan language and literature. Her early sporting interests also included basketball and swimming, but she decided to focus on football after beginning to play at the age of seven. She was the only girl among 400 boys playing for CD Ribes, her local youth football club.
Traditionally, Spanish children were registered with the fatherâs first surname followed by the motherâs last name. BonmatĂâs parents were prominent members of a movement challenging this convention, wishing to have the option to put the maternal surname first instead. Her mother registered as a single parent to ensure her baby would carry the maternal surname. Once the law was changed in 1999 BonmatĂ was one of the first children in Spain to have their maternal surname come before their paternal one.
After four years at Ribes, BonmatĂ joined CF Cubelles, another football club in Barcelona, and played with them for two years before joining La Masia (FC Barcelonaâs youth academy) at 14. BonmatĂ started in the clubâs juvenil-cadete (youth-cadet) ranks, the second-highest youth development tier. Her team won the Catalan Youth League in 2013 and 2014 and the Copa Catalunya championship in 2013. Because of the lack of boarding facilities for girls at the youth academy at the time, BonmatĂ commuted more than an hour each way by public transport. Because of the lack of professional opportunities in womenâs football in Spain at the time, she considered quitting or leaving FC Barcelona to play football in the U.S. Writing about the issue on The Playersâ Tribune, a platform for professional athletes to share their stories and insights, BonmatĂ recalled:
Back then Barça FemenĂ were not on TV. They were not on social media. There was definitely no chance of women playing at the Camp Nou [FC Barcelonaâs main football stadium]. For a long time, the best female teams in Spain were not professional, either. So when I was playing for the Barça U15s, I couldnât see a way of making a living off football here.
She decided to stay on after FC Barcelona made their womenâs team professional in 2015. BonmatĂ advanced to Barcelona B at the age of 17. In the 2015â16 season she captained Barcelona B to their first-ever league title in Spainâs second division of football, which earned her a call-up to the top-tier squad.
BonmatĂ studied physical activity and sports science at the University Ramon Llull, Barcelona. In September 2022 she enrolled in a masterâs degree program in sport management at the Johan Cruyff Institute, a business school.
Club career
After making infrequent appearances for FC Barcelona FemenĂâs top flight team since her debut during the 2015â16 season, BonmatĂâs breakout season came in 2018â19. The midfielder scored 13 goals and provided 8 assists in 40 appearances. She also won the Catalan player of the year award. BonmatĂ became an integral part of FC Barcelona over the next two years, playing a crucial role in the teamâs continental treble in the 2020â21 season (winning the league title, association cup competition, and continental tournament in the same season). FC Barcelona became the first Spanish womenâs team to achieve this feat. BonmatĂ was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the UEFA Womenâs Champions League (UWCL) final. She scored 13 goals and had 11 assists during the season. The 2021â22 season saw BonmatĂ continue her good form. She helped FC Barcelona retain the Liga F title and win the Copa de la Reina (Queenâs Cup; Spanish womenâs association football knockout competition) and the Spanish Super Cup.
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Record-breaking 2022â23 season
The Ballon dâOr is awarded to football players based on their individual brilliance, team success, and fair play during a single European football season, which typically runs for 11 months, from August to July of the next year. French publications France Football and LâĂquipe produce a 30-player short list of candidates. A specialized panel, comprising one journalist from each of the countries ranked in the top 100 by FIFA, then votes to determine the winner. Each voter chooses their top 10 players in order from the short list. Players are awarded 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 point, respectively, depending on their ranking in each list. The total points for each player are tallied, and the one with the biggest total wins the award. Ties are resolved by counting the number of first-place votes the tied candidates received. If there is still a tie, the number of second-place votes will be tallied and so on until the deadlock is broken.
The 2022â23 season was among the most productive of BonmatĂâs career, with 18 goals and 20 assists. She also took on the role of attacking midfielder to fill the void left by injured teammate and FC Barcelona womenâs team captain Alexia Putellas, who tore her ACL in July 2022 and missed most of the season. BonmatĂ stepped into a leadership role and became the linchpin of FC Barcelonaâs midfield, helping the team win another Liga F title, a Champions League title, and Spanish Super Cup. She also swept the individual honors for the season in European football. BonmatĂ was named the UWCL Player of the Season, and won the Ballon dâOr FĂ©minin (one of footballâs most prestigious individual honors presented by French magazine France Football), the Best FIFA Womenâs Player of the Year, and UEFA Womenâs Player of the Year awards.
2023â25: Continued success
During the 2023â24 season, Putellas was deployed as a striker after recovering from her injury, and BonmatĂ was preferred in the attacking midfield role. She scored a career-high 19 goals in 41 appearances and also provided 18 assists. The FC Barcelona womenâs team won four trophies in a single season to achieve an unprecedented quadruple, adding the Spanish Super Cup crown to a treble-winning season. BonmatĂ was named the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year and chosen as the MVP of the UWCL tournament. She also won the Player of the Match award in the final.
Refusing to rest on her laurels, BonmatĂ ended the 2024â25 season with 15 goals and 12 assists and was named the UWCL Player of the Season for the third year in succession. She also played a big part in the FC Barcelona womenâs team securing a sixth straight league title. BonmatĂ won the Ballon dâOr FĂ©minin for the second year in a row in October 2024. Despite signs of interest from top womenâs football clubs such as Lyon, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich, she renewed her contract with FC Barcelona, which was set to expire in 2025, through June 2028. As of August 2025 she is the clubâs highest-paid player and has scored 112 goals in 321 matches for FC Barcelona. BonmatĂ won a third straight Ballon dâOr FĂ©minin award in September 2025, becoming the first player in womenâs football to do so.
In December 2025 BonmatĂ was named The Best FIFA Womenâs Player for the 2024â25 season, following an electoral process in which the coaches and captains of the 211 FIFA Member Associationsâ womenâs national teams, select journalists, and fans who had registered to vote on the FIFA website all participated.
International Career
In September 2022 BonmatĂ was among a group of Spanish womenâs team footballers, later known as Las 15 (âthe 15â), who declared themselves unavailable for national team selection to protest against head coach Jorge Vilda and the allegedly hostile environment he had created in the team. Following a series of meetings with Spanish Football Federation officials, BonmatĂ was one of only three of Las 15 who were recalled to the national squad ahead of the 2023 World Cup.
BonmatĂ has represented Spain in the U17, U19, U20, and senior categories and has won the 2014â15 UEFA Womenâs U17 Euro Championship and the 2017 UEFA Womenâs U19 Euro Championship.
She made her senior debut for the Spain womenâs national football team in November 2017 in a 2019 FIFA Womenâs World Cup qualifying match against Austria, coming on as a substitute for Amanda Sampedro.
These are special awards presented during certain football tournaments in different categories to recognize outstanding performances by players. They include:
- Golden Ball: For the best player of the tournament
- Golden Boot: For the player who scored the most goals in the tournament
- Golden Glove: For the best goalkeeper of the tournament
BonmatĂ was part of the Spain squads that won the 2023 FIFA Womenâs World Cup, winning the Golden Ball award for best player of the tournament. She was also one of 81 Spanish players, including the 23 members of the World Cup-winning squad, who refused to play for their country to protest against the Rubiales kiss incident, where Spainâs football federation (RFEF) president, LuisâŻRubiales, kissed player Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the 2023 Womenâs World Cup medal ceremonyâa gesture Hermoso later said she did not consent to. FIFA suspended Rubiales, who resigned as RFEF president in September 2023.
In October 2023 FIFA banned Rubiales from taking part in any football-related activity at the national and international level for three years. Rubiales was found guilty of sexual assault and fined âŹ10,800 in February 2025; however, he was acquitted of the charge of attempting to coerce Hermoso to say that the kiss had been consensual. His co-defendants, former womenâs team coach Jorge Vilda, sports director of the menâs team Albert Luque, and head of marketing Ruben Rivera, were also found not guilty of coercion. In June 2025 Spainâs High Court upheld the verdict. Speaking to The Guardian newspaper about the verdict, BonmatĂ had commented:
The sentence is correct, it is a Âpositive thing and the team feel the same. I was surprised that there was no sentence linked to coercion, but the trial has served a purpose.
BonmatĂ also helped Spain win the 2023â24 UEFA Womenâs Nations League. She was hospitalized with viral meningitis a few days before the start of the UEFA Womenâs European Championship (Womenâs Euro) 2025 championship. BonmatĂ joined her teammates after the tournament had already begun and scored the winning goal in extra time against Germany in the semifinals of the tournament, winning MVP of the match. She was also named MVP for her performance in the teamâs victory over Switzerland in the quarterfinals. Spain finished runner-up in the tournament after losing to England in a penalty shootout, with BonmatĂ among the three Spanish players who missed their penalty kick. BonmatĂ was named the Player of the Tournament for her role in helping the Spanish womenâs team reach the Womenâs Euro final for the first time. As of August 2025, she has made 105 appearances for Spainâs national senior and youth teams and scored 44 goals.