Barcelona stars shine with FIFA Women's World Cup awards

Stars from Barcelona carted away two of four end-of-tournament awards at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup with both Aitana Bonmati and Salma Paralluelo adding personal honours to the collective joy of winning the tournament.

Bonmati, whom Pep Guardiola described as the “woman Iniesta,” was named the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament, winning the Golden Ball for the first time in the history of the Spanish national team.

The midfielder was superb in nearly all of Spain’s fixtures at the World Cup and was key to La Roja overwhelming England’s midfield in the final as well.

Youngster Salma Paralluelo was also among the winners, having been named the Young Player of the Tournament following a string of impressive cameos, including scoring the winning goals in both the quarterfinal against The Netherlands, and the semifinal against Sweden.

Other awards managed to escape Barcelona players, as Japan’s Hinata Miyazawa, who plays for Mynavi Sendai in Japan, earned the Golden Boot after scoring five goals for the Nadeshiko who reached the quarterfinals before losing to Sweden.

England’s Mary Earps was named the Golden Glove winner as the goalkeeper of the tournament after keeping three clean sheets during the tournament, the same as Nigeria’s Chiamaka Nnadozie.

After winning the UEFA Women’s Champions League earlier in the year, Barcelona will be proud of their players’ performance at the 2023, with nine of the successful Spain side coming from the Catalan giants.