Who most deserves the Ballon d'Or Fémenin? Whittling down the 30-player short list

Like women's professional soccer as a whole, the Ballon d'Or Féminin came around after giving the men about a 60-year head start. Also like women's soccer, it has been dominated by Spain in the 2020s. After Ada Hegerberg and Megan Rapinoe won the first two iterations of the award in 2018 and 2019, respectively, either Alexia Putellas (2021-22) or Aitana Bonmatí (2023-25) took home the last five awards. And even with Bonmatí missing six months with a broken leg and therefore failing to make this year's short list, Putellas appears to be the favorite to win this year's crown when…