Aitana Bonmatí has made history in the Guardian's annual top 100 women's footballers ranking, finishing first for the third consecutive year — a feat no player has achieved before in the list's history, according to the Guardian.
The Barcelona and Spain midfielder, who is 27, had already matched the record set by her club and international teammate Alexia Putellas by winning the ranking in back-to-back years. This latest edition takes her beyond that mark entirely, cementing a period of dominance in women's football that the Guardian describes as narrowing in margin but unbroken at the summit.
The top 100 is among the more respected annual assessments of the women's game, drawing on the judgement of journalists and experts across the sport. To finish first once is a significant recognition; to do so three times in succession places Bonmatí in company of her own.
Her standing in the club game has been built across a series of distinguished seasons with Barcelona, one of the most successful sides in the history of women's club football. Internationally, she has been central to Spain's rise as a force in the women's game, a trajectory that has brought the national side sustained success at the highest level in recent years.
Whether the reduced winning margin noted by the Guardian signals a narrowing of the field at the very top remains to be seen. The list will be published in full by the Guardian, and the players positioned immediately behind Bonmatí will offer some indication of where the balance of the women's game currently sits. For now, though, the record belongs to the midfielder from Mollet del Vallès, and it is one that any future candidate will have to work hard to surpass.