When Spain‘s World Cup winner Aitana Bonmatí strode to the stage to collect her well-deserved Ballon d’Or Féminin award on Monday night, there was a sense of disrespect. And not for the first time.
The moment should have been a celebration of women’s football. But how could it be when the ceremony was scheduled during a women’s international window? Most of the nominees were either unable or not allowed to attend because of Nations League commitments or Olympic qualifiers the following day.
“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t be there,” one of England’s nominees, Georgia Stanway, said Tuesday. “That’s something we spoke as a player group [about], and we just kind of said it would be nice in the future if it wasn’t on a matchday -1, so that we could enjoy the experience.
“It is [frustrating], because it’s potentially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You never know if you’re ever going to get selected for such an accolade like that again, so it would be really nice to enjoy the experience and be there and feel like a star amongst the stars. If it was planned a little bit better, then maybe it would be easier for a lot of female footballers to be there.”
Bonmati was there to represent the women’s game — and she had to leave Spain camp between games and rush back before facing
