109 Facts About Alexia Putellas

Alexia Putellas previously played for Espanyol and Levante, and has represented Catalonia.

Alexia Putellas then went on to win the UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award, the Ballon d'Or Feminin, and The Best FIFA Women's Player in 2021, becoming the first player to win all three in the same year.

Alexia Putellas made her debut for Spain's senior national team for the 2013 UEFA Women's Euro, and has since featured in four other major international competitions with the team: Spain's FIFA Women's World Cup debut in 2015, the 2017 Euro, the 2019 World Cup and the 2023 World Cup that Spain won.

Alexia Putellas is the record holder for most Spain appearances, having surpassed Marta Torrejon's previous record of 90 caps in 2021, and became the first player to make over 100 appearances for the Spain women's team, which she achieved in 2022.

Alexia Putellas i Segura was born on 4 February 1994, to Jaume Putellas Rota and Elisabet "Eli" Segura Sabate in Mollet del Valles, a municipality in the province of Barcelona.

Alexia Putellas has been a supporter of FC Barcelona since her early childhood and would travel with the penya of Mollet del Valles to watch matches at the Camp Nou with her father.

Alexia Putellas would watch Barcelona matches at a local bar, La Bolera, with her family; she has said that her family have always been fanatic supporters of the club, with the exception of a cousin who supports Real Madrid.

Alexia Putellas began playing football at school, and attended football camps run by Xavi for two summers, before joining a club in 2001 at seven years old.

Alexia Putellas's mother allowed her to join a football team on the condition she stop playing at school, though she continued.

Alexia Putellas interpreted her mother's request as a reflection of machismo, specifically prejudice towards girls playing football, in society, saying that her family themselves always accepted her ambitions.

Alexia Putellas enjoyed football at school, where she was embraced, but still did not think she could have a football career due to being female.

In 2013, Alexia Putellas began studying Business Administration and Management at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, later taking a break from her studies to focus on football.

Alexia Putellas had decided to study for a degree due to a lack of professionalism in Spanish women's football; Barcelona Femeni became professional in 2015.

When she was seven, Alexia Putellas began playing for Sabadell, being enrolled through a family friend who played for the club; the team would not accept players younger than eight, with Alexia Putellas' family initially lying about her age so she could join.

Alexia Putellas was smaller and weaker than other players, and could not shoot from distance, things which frustrated her.

Sports media wrote that Alexia Putellas found success at this age due to her ability to find "space where there is none" even as a child.

Sabadell was the only nearby club that had a women's section but, though the women's team flourished during the period Alexia Putellas was with them and the staff of the girls' team pushed to develop, the girls' team was not a priority.

In 2005, Alexia Putellas spent a year in a Barcelona girls' youth team as part of La Masia.

Alexia Putellas joined the Espanyol girls' team when she was twelve, at a time when Espanyol was one of the dominant forces in Spanish women's football, "with an incredibly prolific academy", and Barcelona was not.

Alexia Putellas then began appearing for the women's Espanyol B team from the age of 14 in 2008, and trained and played with the first team during pre-season in 2009.

Alexia Putellas made her first team debut with Espanyol in 2010 when she was 16 years old.

Already a star in the fledgling women's football world in Spain after her success with the youth national team, Alexia Putellas attracted attention when she moved to Valencian club Levante at the age of seventeen, only a month after the 2011 Copa de la Reina final.

Alexia Putellas said she was already a very classy and intelligent player when she joined.

In 2021, Alexia Putellas said this was one of her favourite matches because it "made her feel like a footballer".

Alexia Putellas was chosen as MVP of the Copa de la Reina final for her performance.

In March 2014, Barcelona became the first Spanish team to reach the quarterfinals of the Women's Champions League; Alexia Putellas, acknowledging that their tie against defending champions Wolfsburg would be hard, said that Barcelona dreamed of being able to surprise them but would be "keeping [their] feet on the ground" ahead of the games; she later said that reaching a Champions League final was "a medium-to-long-term project" for the team.

Alexia Putellas was named MVP of the Copa de la Reina for the second season in a row.

Alexia Putellas won her third league title with the club when Barcelona were crowned champions in April 2015, before scoring the opening goal in their derbi femeni victory.

Barcelona became a fully professional team at the start of the season, with Alexia Putellas saying in early 2016 that the club had fully embraced the women's team moving to the Ciutat Esportiva, though she still felt lucky to be able to make a living from her sport.

Ahead of the quarter-finals of the Champions League, which Barcelona closely lost on aggregate to Paris Saint-Germain, Alexia Putellas looked to the match as an opportunity to develop; she said that her perspective had changed, that when she first joined Barcelona she felt just playing in the Champions League was a prize to enjoy, but she wanted to be able to "reach a final in three or four years" and knew they had to be challenging teams like PSG.

Alexia Putellas finished her season as Barcelona's second-highest goalscorer in the league with 18 goals.

In February 2017, Alexia Putellas was named as a candidate for the FIFPro Women's World XI for the first time, being listed as a forward.

On 2 October 2017, Alexia Putellas wore the captain's band for the first time at Barcelona in a match against Santa Teresa, after all four of the club's captains were either benched or not selected in that matchday squad.

Alexia Putellas was Barcelona's sole scorer in both legs of the 2018 Copa de la Reina quarter-final, scoring both match-winners against Levante to bring Barcelona to the semi-finals.

Alexia Putellas ended the season as Barcelona's top scorer in the league with 16 goals and overall with 18 goals.

In 2019, Alexia Putellas was given second captaincy for the first time at Barcelona after being named as fourth captain in the previous year.

Alexia Putellas ended up contributing 10 goals and 8 assists in 20 league matches.

On 6 January 2021, Alexia Putellas captained Barcelona against Espanyol, the first time women's teams ever played a competitive match at the Camp Nou.

Just before halftime, Alexia Putellas scored a header goal off a corner kick from Caroline Graham Hansen, becoming the first female player to score a competitive goal at the stadium.

On 16 May 2021, despite her injury, Alexia Putellas started the second Champions League final of her career, this time against Chelsea.

Alexia Putellas won MVP of the Copa de la Reina final for the third time in her career, and scored the most goals in the tournament with five.

Alexia Putellas ended her season as the highest-scoring midfielder in Europe with 26 goals in all competitions.

Alexia Putellas was given the award later in the month, becoming the first Spanish woman to win it.

In September 2021, Alexia Putellas renewed her Barcelona contract for three more years until 2024.

On 29 November 2021, Alexia Putellas was awarded the 2021 Ballon d'Or Feminin.

Alexia Putellas dedicated the award to her father and thanked her teammates.

In January of the following year, Alexia Putellas was named as the winner of FIFA's The Best Women's Player Award, the second FC Barcelona Femeni player to win the award after Lieke Martens in 2017.

Later that month, Alexia Putellas competed in Barcelona's UWCL quarter-final matches against domestic rivals Real Madrid.

On 21 May 2022, Alexia Putellas started Barcelona's second-consecutive UEFA Women's Champions League final against Olympique Lyon.

Alexia Putellas had the most direct goal involvements of any player in the competition with a combined 13 goals and assists.

Alexia Putellas returned to domestic competition on 25 May 2022 in Barcelona's semi-final Copa de la Reina clash against Real Madrid.

Alexia Putellas finished her league season with 18 goals and a league-best 15 assists as Barcelona had a perfect, wins-only season.

On 5 July 2022, Alexia Putellas suffered an ACL injury while training with the Spain national team before the 2022 UEFA Women's Euro.

At the start of February 2023, Alexia Putellas had begun more intensive training with Barcelona again, and at the end of March 2023 she was back in group training with the team.

Alexia Putellas returned to the matchday squad on 27 April 2023, for the second leg of the UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final against Chelsea, and made her first appearance on 30 April 2023, when she came on as a substitute in the 73rd minute in the league-winning victory against Sporting Huelva.

Alexia Putellas made her 400th official appearance for Barcelona during their first match of the season, the second player to achieve this milestone.

Alexia Putellas continued experiencing issues with her injury which, along with the team's new midfield, led The Equalizer to question where she fit at Barcelona in January 2024, and to describe her season as "a significant juncture in a glittering career"; El Pais said in March that during Putellas' mid-season absence, other forwards had become efficient goalscorers, and she may no longer fit there, either.

Alexia Putellas returned to play for Barcelona on 10 March 2024, scoring within 15 minutes of being substituted on, returning to her typical midfield role.

Alexia Putellas missed a potential equaliser in the 100th minute, before Barcelona defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge a week later to progress to the Champions League final.

Alexia Putellas had entered the pitch in the 92nd minute of the semi-final second leg, and did so again in the final.

Alexia Putellas was involved in the autonomous Catalan youth teams from the age of ten.

Alexia Putellas played with the age group teams from under-12 to under-18, and with Catalonia was champion of Spain in the youth competitions.

In 2007 and 2008, Alexia Putellas was part of the Catalonia under-14 teams that won their Spanish Championship.

Alexia Putellas was part of the team that won the under-16 Spanish Championship in 2010.

Alexia Putellas again scored for the under-16 team in 2010, giving Catalonia the equaliser in their second phase match against the Balearic Islands.

In 2016, Alexia Putellas played with the Catalan senior national team in a friendly against Galicia.

Alexia Putellas said that whenever possible she would play for Catalonia, as she had good memories winning with the youth teams.

Alexia Putellas began playing for Spanish youth national teams at fifteen, in the under-17 team.

Alexia Putellas took part in the 2010 UEFA U-17 Women's Championship, her first major international championship with a Spanish national team.

Alexia Putellas competed in the 2012 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, playing as an attacker and captaining the Spanish team: she said that rather than find captaining to weigh on her, she instead felt that it gave her a boost in tough moments.

Spain advanced to the final, where Alexia Putellas started and captained the match but was taken off in the 83rd minute as Spain were defeated by Sweden in the second period of extra time.

Alexia Putellas captained Spain in the group and scored twice in their three matches, but they finished third with one win and two losses, and failed to qualify.

In Spain's first match of the 2013 Euro, Alexia Putellas made her competitive match debut when she was subbed on against England.

Alexia Putellas played in all of Spain's matches in the tournament: as a substitute again in the team's next match against France, before starting in the group match against Russia and as Spain were eliminated by Norway in the quarter-final.

In May 2015, Alexia Putellas was called up as part of Spain's squad at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, their first ever participation in a World Cup.

Alexia Putellas started in each of Spain's group stage games at the UEFA Women's Euro 2017, where they advanced to the knockouts on a head-to-head tiebreaker with a record of one win and two losses.

In May 2019, Alexia Putellas was named part of Spain's squad at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, both her and Spain's second Women's World Cup tournament.

Alexia Putellas played in each of Spain's three group stage games where they advanced to the Round of 16.

Alexia Putellas scored st Japan and scored a late match-winner with a header against England.

Alexia Putellas's performances earned her player of the tournament and took Spain to second place.

In September 2022, Alexia Putellas gave her public support to fifteen of her Spain teammates, known as Las 15, who refused to play for the national team until the RFEF addressed their concerns about their poor mental and physical health in the squad.

Alexia Putellas provided an assist in the group stage game against Zambia, but more in-form players instead led the squad during the tournament.

Under legal threat if they did not attend, causing public outcry, Alexia Putellas was part of a meeting in Oliva that saw the RFEF agree to make significant structural changes promptly.

Alexia Putellas has been described as the perfect "Barcelona midfielder", with the vision, passing ability, and passing accuracy that resembles her male counterparts of Barcelona's successful Guardiola era; her technique has been compared to that of male Barcelona footballers Xavi, Sergio Busquets, and particularly Andres Iniesta, all of whom she has said inspire her game, as well as Real Madrid's Luka Modric.

Normally situated in the central midfield of the set-up, Alexia Putellas is one of the main contributors to Barcelona's attack, with the ability to play as an attacking midfielder and a second striker.

The website noted her exceptional passing ability; though typically playing shorter passes, and more unsuccessful than not at playing through balls, Alexia Putellas otherwise has good statistics for pass accuracy and pass importance, and is often successful at passing into the penalty area.

When making forward runs instead of creating the attack, Alexia Putellas will come from behind her team's forward line and so is harder for the opposition defence to detect, allowing her to identify precise routes through and time her runs to receive a ball.

Alexia Putellas makes a significant number of loose ball recoveries in the opposition half and has a good work rate when counter-pressing.

Alexia Putellas has additional sponsorships with Cupra, Allianz and Visa, and is a member of Team VISA.

Alexia Putellas is an ambassador of fashion brand Mango, with the partnership focusing on promoting equality.

In 2015, when CF Mollet UE started a women's football section, Alexia Putellas was invited to be ambassador, a role she accepted; she regularly visits the club when she is in her hometown.

Alexia Putellas has been dubbed "La Reina" by fans, the media, and by Nike, who included the nickname in a congratulatory post for her 2021 Ballon d'Or win.

Alexia Putellas had first been given the nickname in a tongue-in-cheek fashion at the 2021 Copa de la Reina final; neither the RFEF president, Luis Rubiales, nor sponsor Queen Letizia attended the match as planned, considered a snub towards expected winners Barcelona.

When Barcelona won and Alexia Putellas was named player of the tournament, her teammates crowned her in the press conference afterwards and parodied treating her as the queen.

Alexia Putellas was awarded the 2021 Premio Reina Letizia, Spain's National Sports Award for the best overall sportswoman, which was given to her in person by Queen Letizia in 2023.

Alexia Putellas received the Gold Medal for Sporting Merit, one of the highest civilian orders in Barcelona.

The mural of Alexia Putellas has received many visits but, despite the popularity of both Alexia Putellas and the mural in their city, has been vandalised.

In 2022, Alexia Putellas was given an overall rating of 92 in the football simulation video game FIFA 23, the highest rating in the game for any player, including men.

In 2019, Alexia Putellas spoke out against prison sentences for Catalan independence leaders in the aftermath of the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, tweeting in Catalan that the sentences were "not the solution" and calling for democratic processes to move forward.

Alexia Putellas spoke Catalan in her acceptance speech for her second Ballon d'Or, drawing anger from some people in Spain.

Alexia Putellas had been part of the Madrid Pride parade for Madrid lesbian bar Fulanita de Tal in 2019.

Alexia Putellas has been featured in various miniseries documenting female footballers, including the 2021 Rakuten TV Campeonas, the 2022 Barca TV+ Queens of the Pitch, and the third episode of UEFA's 2023 Equals.

Alexia Putellas is one of the prominent Catalan women, along with teammate Bonmati, showcased in the SX3 series Superheroines.

Alexia Putellas considered studying medicine to help him; in 2012, just before the start of the 2012 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, he died.

Alexia Putellas has celebrated goals by pointing her fingers to the sky in dedication to her father.

In 2020, after close friend Virginia Torrecilla was diagnosed with cancer, Alexia Putellas began wearing Torrecillas's number 14 with the Spain national team.

Alexia Putellas speaks Catalan as her primary language, having learnt Spanish in school as a child and English in the 2020s.

Alexia Putellas has a pet dog, a Pomeranian called Nala, who has an Instagram account.

Alexia Putellas has a large number of tattoos, including various Latin phrases ; a Hand of Fatima; an Eye of Horus; a Barcelona panot tile with "Made in" written above; a football; the number 112 ; and a silhouette of her father holding her as an infant and handing her a football.