Aitana Bonmatí named 2022/23 UEFA Women's Player of the Year

Aitana Bonmatí has won the 2022/23 UEFA Women's Player of the Year award.

The 25-year-old Barcelona and Spain midfielder finished ahead of Sam Kerr and Olga Carmona in the voting after a season in which her teams won the UEFA Women's Champions League and FIFA Women's World Cup, Bonmatí named player of the tournament in both.

She received her award during the UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony in Monaco.

Why Bonmatí won the award

Operating in a more attacking role for Barcelona than before – in the absence for the majority of the season of Alexia Putellas, who won this award for the last two years – Bonmatí registered a competition-high 13 goal contributions in the Women's Champions League (five goals and eight assists) as the Blaugrana reclaimed the title. She was named Player of the Season, not to mention Player of the Match in five of Barcelona's 11 games, and was similarly effective as Barça cruised to another Spanish league title.

Bonmatí was then Spain's fulcrum at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Her double in the round of 16 against Switzerland inspired Spain's first-ever major senior knockout win, and she went on to be named Player of the Tournament as they claimed their maiden senior title.

Bonmatí's 2022/23 in numbers

Achievements
UEFA Women's Champions League winner and Player of the Season, Spanish league champion, FIFA Women's World Cup winner and Player of the Tournament

UEFA Women's Champions League
Appearances: 11
Goals: 5
Assists: 8
Player of the Match awards: 5

FIFA Women's World Cup
Appearances: 7
Goals: 3
Assists: 2
Player of the Match awards: 2

Domestic league
Appearances: 23
Goals: 9
Assists: 10

Key performance

Barcelona 1-1 Chelsea
The draw at the Camp Nou, which sealed a 2-1 aggregate Women's Champions League semi-final victory and Barcelona's third straight appearance in the decider, summed up Bonmatí's ability to dominate even top-level opposition.

Bonmatí buzzed around behind the front three, providing the link between the defence and midfield and ensuring Chelsea's hopes of overturning their first-leg deficit were in vain. An assist for Caroline Graham Hansen's clinching goal, where Bonmatí carried the ball from halfway to the box before setting up her team-mate, was typical of her 2022/23 output. She went on to cap a fabulous club campaign in the final comeback against Wolfsburg.

What is the UEFA Women's Player of the Year award?

For this award, players in Europe, irrespective of nationality, have been judged in regard to their performances over the whole season in all competitions – both domestically and internationally – at either club or national team level.

How were the players shortlisted?

An initial shortlist of players was selected by the UEFA technical observers based on their performance during the 2022/23 season at club and/or national team level. The top three nominees were voted for by a jury composed of the coaches of clubs participating in the group stage of the UEFA Women's Champions League, together with the coaches of the women's national teams of UEFA's member associations. A group of journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) were also part of the jury.

Coaches and journalists were asked to select their top three players from the shortlist by allocating them five points, three points and one point respectively. The final result was based on the total number of votes cast by the coaches and the journalists. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own team.