FC Barcelona leaders in 'The Best'
The ceremony for FIFA's The Best Awards took place in London on Monday and saw Barça Women midfielder Aitana Bonmatí claim the prize in the category for best women's player of 2022/23. The Sant Pere de Ribes native's latest accolade means that FC Barcelona have claimed the individual award for men's football and women's football more times than any other club since the awards were launched in 2016.
Aitana, Alexia and Messi, The Best as culers
Aitana Bonmatí's success follows on from that of team mate Alexia Putellas who took the award in the two previous seasons. Another blaugrana winner was Leo Messi in 2019, leaving Barça with four winners across both categories, one more than Real Madrid and two more than Bayern Munich.
Seven awards for La Masia
In the eight seasons that the awards have existed, it is undeniable the influence of Barça La Masia on the world of football. The four individual winners for Barça all came through the Club's much vaunted youth set up with Leo Messi claiming another two awards a PSG and Inter Miami player. Pep Guardiola, another La Masia product, claimed the award for best coach in the most recent edition on Monday making a total of seven for La Masia.
Lewandowski, Bronze and Martens, bringing 'The Best' to Barça
Furthermore, it's clear that the best players want to be at Barça. Winners of 'The Best' are common arrivals at the Club with best women's player Lieke Martens setting the trend in October 2017 after taking the prize for her exploits with Rosengård. Lucy Bronze won the award in 2020 as an Olympique Lyonnais player and after a spell at Manchester City the defender joined Barça in the summer of 2022. At the same time another 'The Best' winner joined the blaugranes when Robert Lewandowski, winner on two occasions with Bayern Munich, signed for Xavi Hernández's team.
Ballon d'Or leaders
Barça lead the way in important individual awards with a total of 15 winners of the Ballon d'Or, more than any other club, just as they do now in FIFA's The Best.