The last English player to win the Ballon d’Or was Michael Owen in 2001.
Alexia Putellas won the women’s Ballon d’Or for a stellar season leading the all-conquering Barcelona side to four trophies. Putellas, 32, who has since moved to London City Lionesses, claimed the award for the third time after successes in 2021 and 2022.
Spain men’s head coach Luis de la Fuente took out the men’s coach of the year after leading the side to World Cup glory in the US.
“Teamwork makes us invincible. This is a great honour,” de la Fuente said after collecting the award at a ceremony in London.
“The secret is to work with very generous players that put the team first. We’ve got such an amazing pool of talent, the best in the world, so as a coach I have such a great amount of talent to work with. So this is their success,” he added.