Aitana Bonmati
Aitana Bonmati
(Age 25 Yr. )
Personal Life
| Education | Graduation (Physical Activity and Sports Sciences) |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Profession | Footballer |
| Place | Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5 feet 4 inches |
| Weight | 51 kg (approx.) |
| Eye Color | Brown |
| Hair Color | Brown |
Family Status
| Parents | Father-Vicent Conca Mother-Rosa Bonmatí Guidonet |
| Marital Status | Single |
Aitana Bonmat Conca is a Spanish professional footballer who was born on the 18th of January in 1998. She now plays as a center midfielder for the Liga F club Barcelona as well as the Spain women’s national team. As a result of her victory in the Ballon d’Or competition in 2023, she is widely regarded as one of the top players in women’s football.
Since 2012, Bonmat has been a member of Barcelona, and he spent the previous six years training through La Masia. She was given a spot in Barcelona’s first team prior to the start of the 2016–17 season, although she didn’t become a regular starter for the club until the 2018–19 season, which was the year after she was promoted.
Early life
- Aitana Bonmatí was born on 18 January 1998 in Vilanova i la Geltrú, a town of the Garraf region of Catalonia. When she was born in 1998, her parents wanted to abandon Spanish naming customs that default to the paternal surname being listed first.
- In her childhood, she played basketball, but at age seven she took up football and played with boys in mixed teams. She often recalls getting picked on by boys for her short stature. The first clubs she played football with were CD Ribes and CF Cubelles, both male/mixed sex teams, which she believes helped improve her strength and intensity.
- At the age of 13, she joined Barcelona to play in their youth teams, where she would take two-hour long public transport rides with her father to get to practice.
Career
- A member of the Spain women’s national football team at every youth level, including the U-17, U-19, and U-20 teams, Bonmat has competed at the international level.
- Bonmat was selected to be a member of the Spanish team that competed in the 2014 UEFA Women’s Under-17 European Championship when she was just 15 years old.
- Her first two goals for the U-17 national team came against Germany in a group stage victory for Spain that ended with a score of 4–0 and helped Spain finish in first place in Group B. After beating England by a score of two to one in the subsequent semifinal match, Spain was able to move on.
- In addition to that, she was a member of the Spain U-17 team that triumphed at the UEFA Women’s U-17 Euro in 2015 and took first place. During the group stage, she scored her first and only goal of the competition, which helped her team defeat Germany by a score of 4–0.
- After finishing in first place in Group A, Spain advanced to the semifinals to compete against France. She got the start and continued to play all the way through extra time, which ultimately led to the match going to penalties.
- Bonmat’s first call-up to the senior national team came in November 2017, when coach Jorge Vilda selected her to compete in two qualifying matches for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
- When she came on as a substitute for Amanda Sampedro in the 53rd minute of Spain’s match against Austria, she made her first appearance with the senior national team.
- Bonmat was selected to be a member of Spain’s squad for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in May of 2019. She participated in two matches during the group stage, one of which was a win against South Africa and the other was a loss against Germany.
- In a qualifying match for the 2023 World Cup, which took place on November 25th, 2021, Bonmat scored twice in a 12–0 victory over Faroe Islands. After another five days, she added two more goals to her tally versus Scotland.
- She scored Spain’s second goal in their opening match of the 2023 World Cup, which they won 3–0 against Costa Rica. Her goal was the difference in the contest. In Spain’s 5–1 victory over Switzerland, which allowed Spain to advance to the quarterfinals, Bonmat scored twice and assisted twice.
- Following Spain’s victory over England by a score of 1-0 in the championship game, Bonmat was announced as the tournament’s best player and was awarded the Golden Ball at the conclusion of the competition.
Style of play
FCF has described Bonmatí as "pure elegance" and has noted her versatility as a player, able to adapt to different positions, play centrally, as a midfielder or as a winger.
After winning her first Catalan Player of the Year award, Jordi Ventura, the coach who signed her to Barcelona's Cadet team, emphasised that she is "an intense player, very competitive and perfectly dominates with both legs." In the same article, former FCB Femeni coach Xavi Llorens describes Bonmatí as having "innate elegance in driving the ball" and being "very competitive... versatile, can play in three, four or five positions and does not lower her level."
Ahead of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, FIFA described her in her player profile as "technically gifted" with "superb vision with plenty of character" and "combative when required with an eye for goal."
Bonmatí sees her short stature as an advantage due to her low center of gravity that makes it hard for opponents to take her off the ball.
Pep Guardiola said, "Aitana Bonmatí is a football player who has me completely in love with her for the way she plays. I would say she is like the women's (Andrés) Iniesta."
Personal life
Bonmatí's idols are Xavi and Andrés Iniesta. She has also stated that she models her game after former club and national team teammate Vicky Losada.
Bonmatí studied Physical Activity and Sports Sciences at Ramon Llull University and graduated in 2021. In September 2022 it was announced that Bonmatí started to study for a Master's degree in Sport Management at Johan Cruyff Institute.
