In the 20th minute of the UEFA Women’s Champions League final held last Sunday, Aitana Bonmatí finished off a spectacular play by her team in a goal. The goal, which has already gone around the world, is just a sample of the superiority of the Blaugrana team over their rival. Pure culé DNA exemplified in Aitana Bonmatí.
With the ’14’ on her back, Aitana, a confessed fan of Johan Cruyff, starred in the match of her life. Not only for entering the history of his club and Spanish women’s football, but also for his brilliant individual performance. “She created spaces, showed very good movements between the lines to attack, was always perfectly positioned in defense and scored a goal.” This is what the report by Nina Patalon, the UEFA Technical Observer, says and the words that accredit Aitana as the Visa Player of the Match of the Champions League final.
With the Player of the Match award, Visa donates 50,000 euros to the UEFA Foundation for Children
The one from San Pedro de Ribas takes over from Delphine Cascarino, the most outstanding player from the previous final. And also a great responsibility: to continue contributing to the development of women’s football and the empowerment of women footballers.
Endowment of 50,000 euros for a good cause
With the Player of the Match award, Visa donates € 50,000 to the UEFA Foundation for Children. The winner of the award, in this case Aitana, will be able to decide which project will be the beneficiary of this donation. Currently, the UEFA Foundation for Children supports 168 humanitarian and development projects around the world. More than 1,180,000 children have benefited from the Foundation’s work since its inception.
Own names shine brightly next to Aitana’s, such as Alexia Putellas or her teammate Caroline Graham Hansen, both from Team Visa
The Visa Player of the Match, awarded by Visa since 2019, celebrates individual excellence in women’s football and upholds the values of female empowerment, diversity and equality. In this aspect, the individual, the best example is Aitana. At the group level, your team is on the way. Proof of this is the victory in this edition of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Because, as Alexia Putellas said in the previous competition, “there is no distance”: the Catalan team is already at the level of the leading players in Europe … and in the world.
In their ranks, proper names shine brightly alongside Aitana’s, such as Alexia Putellas or her teammate Caroline Graham Hansen. They are references, heroines for so many girls and young people who now know that being professional footballers can be real, it can be an option.
Caroline Graham Hansen of FC Barcelona celebrating one of the goals that gave her team victory in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final
Both Alexia and Caroline are part of Team Visa, a program created in 2000 by Visa that aims to provide athletes with the tools, resources and assistance they need to achieve their sporting dreams, both in and out of competition. And it is that the work that these footballers are doing is enormous, because it jumps out of the field of play: it is the best of the examples to promote the development, visibility, acceptance and growth of women’s football in the world.
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