Alexia Putellas

Alexia Putellas Segura (Catalan: Alèxia Putellas i Segura, ; born 4 February 1994), often known mononymously as Alexia, is a Spanish professional footballer from Catalonia who plays as a midfielder or forward for Liga F club Barcelona and the Spain women's national team, both of which she captains.

She previously played for Espanyol and Levante, and has represented Catalonia.

Having won all major club and individual awards available to a European player by 2022, she is widely regarded as one of the best female footballers of her generation, and one of the greatest of all time.

In 2022, women's football reporter Asif Burhan wrote that Putellas' "dedication to the sport has revolutionized the women's game."

Alèxia Putellas Segura was born on 4 February 1994, to Jaume Putellas Rota and Elisabet "Eli" Segura Sabaté in Mollet del Vallès, a municipality in the province of Barcelona.

She has a younger sister, Alba.

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

She would also 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.

In her youth, Putellas idolised male footballers Andrés Iniesta, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho, who all played for Barcelona, as well as female footballer Louisa Nécib, who played for Olympique Lyonnais.

Iniesta has returned the idolatry, calling Putellas a role model and saying she encapsulates the values of FC Barcelona.

Born into a basketball-playing family, Putellas played basketball as well as roller hockey and tennis as a child.

She 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.

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

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.

A mature and reserved but not shy child, Putellas showed leadership qualities from a young age.

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

Putellas' first club was the local CF Mollet UE boys' team; she only had three training sessions there, leaving as she did not like the atmosphere and soon after joining the Sabadell girls' team.

It was difficult for Putellas and her family to manage her training there as a child, but by 2004 she was playing football religiously.

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

With the team, Putellas won the youth editions of the 2005 Copa Catalunya and the league.

Joining Barcelona was her dream, but she had to leave when the women's system was restructured and there was no team for her age group; Xavi Llorens, who became manager in 2006, reflected that he always expected Putellas to return, "it was just a matter of waiting for the right time".

Putellas, like many of the displaced players, joined Espanyol, the other club in Barcelona.

On the international stage, Putellas had success with Spain's youth national teams, winning two UEFA Women's U-17 Euros (in 2010 and 2011) as well as finishing second place in the 2012 UEFA Women's U-19 Euro.

Putellas has played for Barcelona since 2012, after spending most of her youth career in the ranks of Espanyol.

With Barcelona, she has won seven league titles, seven Copas de la Reina, and two UEFA Women's Champions League trophies.

She 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.

As of October 2023, Putellas has the second-most all-time appearances for Barcelona behind former left-back Melanie Serrano, and is their all-time top goalscorer.

She also holds the record of most appearances for Spain with 113 caps, having surpassed Marta Torrejón's previous record of 90 caps in 2021.

In 2013, 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.

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

When she was seven, 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 Putellas' family initially lying about her age so she could join.

It is here she first played with future Barcelona teammates Vicky Losada and Marta Corredera.

Despite being several years younger than some of her Sabadell teammates, Putellas was made one of the team captains.

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

Sports media wrote that 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 Putellas was with them and the staff of the girls' team pushed to develop, the girls' team was not a priority.

In Barcelona's 2020–21 season, she played an essential role as her team won the Champions League as well as the resulting continental treble, both for the first time in their history.

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

In 2022, despite missing the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 due to an ACL injury, she won all three awards again, becoming the first woman to win any of them in consecutive years.

Barcelona won the league and Champions League again in 2022–23, though Putellas was largely absent with the injury.