Last week, Aitana Bonmati won her third consecutive Ballon d’Or – essentially crowning her as the best player in the world for a third consecutive season. Understandably, that got the whole world talking about how we judge individual awards in soccer and what it means to be at the top of that list? The Full Time podcast included.
So, on this week's Full Time podcast, hosts Tamerra Griffin and Meg Linehan are joined by esteemed panel of guests, including Ballon d'Or voters Annie Peterson and Soph Downey, and The Guardian Top 100 Women's Footballers coordinator Rich Laverty, to try and figure out whether we can fix women's soccer awards voting.
What issues currently exist in the voting format? How are biases exposed in the voting and the awards themselves? Is is it even possible to be objective? And, what role does accessibility and national team performance in determining which players get their flowers?
_______________
Referenced on the show
Ballon d’Or voting: Dembele’s dominance, how Bonmati won and other key takeaways
Aitana Bonmati’s third consecutive Ballon d’Or exposes voting flaws
How Ousmane Dembele and Aitana Bonmati won top 2025 Ballon d’Or awards at Paris ceremony
The Ballon d’Or and why football has become so obsessed with individual awards
What it’s like to vote for Ballon d’Or Feminin: The Athletic’s Steph Yang shares some insight
______________
HOSTS: Tamerra Griffin, Meg Linehan
GUESTS: Annie Peterson, Soph Downey, Rich Laverty
PRODUCER: Theo Lloyd-Hughes
VIDEO PRODUCER: Lia Griffin
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Emily Olsen
_______________
Get in touch: fulltime@theathletic.com
Follow on Instagram and TikTok: @tafulltime
Subscribe to the Full Time newsletter here
Visit the Yahoo Women's Sports hub here
","author_name":"The Athletic"}