The Best FIFA Women’s Player Aitana Bonmatí highlighted how perceptions of women’s football have changed while The Best FIFA Men’s Player, Vinícius Júnior, reflected on his remarkable journey to the summit of the beautiful game after The Best FIFA Football Awards™2024 ceremony in Doha, Qatar.

Vinícius Júnior became the third Real Madrid CF player to win the award after Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modrić, capping what was a remarkable 2024 for the 24-year-old forward. A goalscorer as Madrid claimed a record-extending 15th UEFA Champions League final victory in June, the Brazil international also picked up La Liga, Spanish Super Cup and UEFA Super Cup winner’s medals, scoring 24 goals in 39 competitive appearances for the Spanish club during the 2023/24 season. 

He has built on that momentum in the new campaign, finding the net 13 times already in just 20 matches. It has cemented his place as one of the modern game’s superstars, a billing he has earned after rising from humble beginnings in Rio de Janeiro.

“I don't even know where to begin because it seemed impossible to get here. I was a kid playing barefoot in the streets of São Gonçalo (in Rio de Janeiro) surrounded by poverty and crime, so to be able to be here means a lot to me,” said the Brazil international after receiving his award from FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “I'm a role model for many kids who think everything is impossible, and that they can't get this far.”

The dream of his current reality must have seemed distant for him too when he joined a football academy affiliated to one of Rio’s leading sides, CR Flamengo, aged just six. Four years later, he was officially part of Flamengo’s youth system. By the time Madrid agreed to sign him in May 2017, he had played just a handful of minutes in the first team, but the European heavyweights were sure they had found their man. Four years after arriving in the Spanish capital, the feeling remains mutual.

“I want to continue playing for Real Madrid for a long time. It's the greatest club in the world,” said Vinícius Júnior. “(But) I have to thank Flamengo, the club that put me on the pitch, in the world. And I'd also like to thank all the players of the Brazilian national team and my country, which always supported me, cheered for me, and which gives me strength to carry on in every struggle.”

Bonmatí won the award for the second successive year, underlining the success that has been enjoyed for both club and country during a 2024 in which she won a domestic treble and the UEFA Women’s Champions League with FC Barcelona, and the UEFA Nations League and FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023™ with Spain.

It was in winning the latter competition that the stylish, unassuming midfielder really came to global prominence, her meteoric rise mirroring that of the women’s game going mainstream.

"Little Aitana never thought about winning this kind of award because when I was a child, I didn’t see any women as role models in football,” said Bonmatí. “Nowadays, I see little girls with a bright future in women’s football. I’m really glad I’ve been part of their journeys and I’ve helped them to overcome challenges. Young Aitana couldn’t have foreseen that future. I would have never thought I’d get two The Best awards, because I thought it was impossible to be a professional footballer.”

Despite already boasting a collection of winner’s medals the envy of all but a very select few, her thirst for success remains unsated. It is the one prize that has – so far – got away that will be her main focus in 2025 when she could become the first woman to win three successive The Best FIFA Women’s Player awards.

“As the ambitious player that I am, and as part of teams where every player is ambitious, it’s unthinkable not to focus on titles,” said Bonmatí, who has matched Barça and Spain teammate Alèxia Putellas’ achievement of winning back-to-back individual best player awards.

“As for the national team, this year it’s the (UEFA EUROs). We’ve won the (FIFA) World Cup, we’ve won the (UEFA) Nations [League], but we still haven’t won the (UEFA EURO). So, why not? It’ll be in Switzerland. We’re hungry and hopeful. It’s a title that we’re missing, and we’ll go out to get it.”