The stars of last summer's Euro ruled the 2025 FIFA Best Awards on Tuesday, as international players for world No. 1 Spain and No. 4 England shut out the competition at the annual ceremony in Qatar.
Spain and Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmatí won her third straight Best Women's Player of the Year award, after finishing as a runner up at both the 2024/25 UEFA Women's Champions League and this year's Euros.
"I'm grateful to have the award, it's for all the players all the coaches and the fans, thanks very much," Bonmatí told the crowd, as the reigning three-time Ballon d'Or winner continues to recover from a broken leg.
The 2025 Euro tournament also influenced the 2025 FIFA Women's Best XI, with the lineup exclusively featuring Spain and England standouts.
Joining Bonmatí on the FIFA roster were Spain teammates Irene Paredes, Ona Batlle, Patri Guijarro, Clàudia Pina, Mariona Caldentey, and Alexia Putellas, with Euro champion Lionesses Lucy Bronze, Leah Williamson, Alessia Russo, and Hannah Hampton rounding out the field.
Hampton also picked up Goalkeeper of the Year honors, with England boss Sarina Wiegman snagging the 2025 Coach of the Year award.
Months after a controversial 2025 Ballon d'Or ballot, FIFA took a similarly narrow Euro-centric view of success at the individual level for this year's Best Awards.
Jenni Hermoso and Spain’s entire World Cup-winning team, plus 33 additional players, are refusing to return to the national team without a leadership change.
In a letter released Friday, the players came together to ask for “real changes, both sporting and structural,” to the national team, including the removal of the “current leaders.” Luis Rubiales, the president of the Spanish national federation (RFEF), refused to resign earlier in the day despite the growing backlash against him after his unsolicited kiss of Hermoso at the World Cup final.
In a defiant speech delivered Friday, Rubiales promised to “fight to the end” rather than step down from his post. He also claimed his kiss of Hermoso was “consensual,” which Hermoso disputed in the letter.
“I want to clarify that at no time did I consent to the kiss he gave me and in no case did I seek to lift the president,” she said. “I do not tolerate my word being questioned, much less that words are invented that I have not said.”
Her final remark refers to the statement issued in her name by the Spanish federation in the immediate aftermath of the World Cup final on Aug. 20, which referred to the kiss as a “mutual gesture.”
Hermoso’s World Cup teammates back her up in the letter. So do “Las 15,” the group of 15 players who protested the national federation who protested against the national team environment ahead of the tournament.
The players “want to express their firm and resounding condemnation of behaviors that have violated the dignity of women,” they say in the letter.
Among those who signed the letter are World Cup stars Alexia Putellas, Irene Paredes, Aitana Bonmatí, as well as “Las 15” members Patri Guijarro, Mapi León and Clàudia Pina, all of whom also voiced their support of Hermoso on social media.
“From our union, we want to emphasize that no woman should feel the need to respond to the forceful images that the whole world has seen and of course, they should not be involved in nonconsensual attitudes,” the players continued.
The players also “expect forceful answers from the public powers so that the actions such as those contained do not go unpunished.” They finish their letter by asking for “real changes” to the national team so the program can continue to grow.
Rubiales is expected to be suspended as the Spanish government investigates the incident. FIFA, meanwhile, opened up an investigation of its own on Thursday.
“It fills us with sadness,” the players said in their letter, “that such an unacceptable event is managing to tarnish the greatest sporting success of Spanish women’s football.”