Can Alessia Russo Become England's First Female Ballon D'Or Winner?

Forbes

10 hours ago

A European champion with her club and country this year, Arsenal's Alessia Russo is emerging as one of the leading contenders to win the prestigious Ballon D'Or in 2025.
The 30-player shortlist for the award will be announced today by France Football magazine and Russo is sure to be among several of England's UEFA Women's Euro winning squad to be nominated. The 26-year-old scored in the final against Spain and was also her club's top scorer in the Women's Super League and UEFA Women's Champions League.
First awarded in 2018, there have only been four different winners of the Ballon D'Or Féminin in the award's history - Ada Hegerberg, Megan Rapinoe, Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmatí. The highest-placed English players have been Lucy Bronze in 2019 and Beth Mead in 2022, who both finished second in the rankings.
Alexia and Aitana are once again strong candidates to win the Ballon D'Or, but neither had as consistent a tournament as Russo. Alexia was the star of the group stage, scoring three goals and providing four assists in the first three games but her performances tailed off in the knockout stages from that incredibly high standard.
Aitana, the winner of the Ballon D'Or in the previous two years was for the third year in succession voted the MVP in the UEFA Women's Champions League. However, she did not start the UEFA Women's Euro after contracting viral meningitis ahead of the tournament. She returned to great effect in the knockout stages with a a backheel assist in the quarter-final and the extra-time winner in the semi-final.
Ultimately however, as in the UEFA Women's Champions League final, Russo triumphed over her Spanish rivals for the main trophy. Aitana missed one of the penalties in the UEFA Women's Euro final shoot-out. She was nevertheless voted the Player of the Tournament and an unprecedented hat-trick of Ballon D'Or awards cannot be ruled out.
Russo has never before even been shortlisted, even after her impressive performances leading the line for England at the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023. Now an Arsenal player, competing in the Women's Champions League, her media profile has risen and her all-round game has improved.
More than just a number nine, she has often played deeper for club and country contributing assists as well as goals. Criticised for her lack of goals at the UEFA Women's Euro this summer, she provided the final pass for three of England's goals at the championship. It was no surprise when she was one of four Lionesses voted into the Team of the Tournament by UEFA's Technical Observer Group.
Unlike other awards, the winner of the Ballon D'Or is entirely selected by a jury of specialised journalists from the top 50-ranked countries in the women's game based on the latest FIFA Women's World Rankings. There is one representative per country.
Each juror selects their ten best players in descending order from the shortlist of thirty. The ten selected players are awarded 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 point respectively. The Ballon d'Or is awarded to the player with the highest number of points.
Uniquely, the Ballon D'Or sets out specific criteria for the winner. Not merely a prize for the world's best player, the following factors are taken into account -individual performances, decisive and impressive character; team performances and achievements; class and fair play.
In all those categories, Russo will score highly this year. One of two players to start the UEFA Women's Champions and UEFA Women's Euro finals for the winning side, she scored 20 goals for Arsenal in all competitions for the first time in her career. Her eight goals in the UEFA Women's Champions League is the highest-ever total by an English woman in the competition. In May, she was voted the women's Player of tbe Year by her country's Football Writers' Association.
Historically, the Ballon D'Or has gone to the leading player in a team which has won either the Champions League or a major international tournament within the season in question. There would also therefore be a strong case for the England captain Leah Williamson, who was imperious withstanding countless waves of attack from FC Barcelona and Spain in those two finals.
The cut off period of assessment for this award came almost immediately after the UEFA Women's Euro final on July 31. Therefore, the Player of the Tournament performance from Marta in the final of the Copa América Femenina last weekend came too late to be used in her favor. That is not to say, that some judges may be swayed to award the six-time FIFA Women's World Player of the Year her first Ballon D'Or at the venerable age of 39.
Only four English players have ever won the Ballon D'Or, which was first awarded in the men's game back in 1956. Stanley Matthews was the inaugural recipient in that year. Ten years later, Bobby Charlton was the next English winner on the back of England's triumph in the 1966 FIFA World Cup.
Kevin Keegan won the Ballon D'Or twice while representing German club Hamburger SV in 1978 and 1979. The only English player to win the award this century was forward Michael Owen in 2001, If she wins Russo will not only end that 24 year wait but also become the first woman from outside Spain, and FC Barcelona, to lift the award since Rapinoe in 2019.
The winners of the the 2025 Ballon D'Or will be announced on September 22 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.