Aitana Bonmatí

Her father is Valencian and had been part of the Catalan Countries independence party Movement for Defence of the Land, and reportedly a member of the Catalan nationalist paramilitary group Terra Lliure; he was among those arrested and, by their accounts, tortured ahead of the 1992 Summer Olympics as part of Operation Garzón.

Acquitted in the resulting trial, Conca was part of the case that saw the Spanish state convicted in the European Court of Human Rights for violating the Convention Against Torture.

Due to her family's outspoken Marxist and Catalan independentist views, Bonmatí has been the subject of criticism from people of various alignments, including right-wing Spanish nationalists and socialist separatists.

Bonmatí played basketball in her childhood, but began playing football on the playground at school and decided she preferred this at the age of seven.

Her father noted her to be competitive and self-critical since she was a young child, and worried that she did not enjoy playing due to being too focused on achieving more; Bonmatí said in 2023 that she is "never happy with what I do because I always want more."

She is a lifelong fan of FC Barcelona, and would watch the men's games at a local bar in Ribes in her childhood.

After playing in local boys' teams, Bonmatí joined Barcelona's youth section at the age of 13, to play in their girls' teams.

At the time, the girls' youth section did not have an on-site residential facility, and she had to travel on public transport (accompanied by her father) for the two-hour journey, as her father does not drive and her mother has fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.

Her idols growing up were Barcelona midfielders Xavi and Andrés Iniesta; by 2023, she had a close friendship with Xavi, who wrote that he was proud she had inherited the Barça DNA.

She has a flexitarian plant-based diet and puts a lot of focus on getting good rest.

Since she was 13 she has visited a psychologist to "be good with [herself]", and advocates for taking care of mental health.

Bonmatí also enjoys travelling as a means of disconnecting, and cites a trip to Vietnam as having had a profound effect.

She studied physical activity and sports science at Ramon Llull University, graduating in 2021, and started a master's degree in sport management at the Johan Cruyff Institute in September 2022.

Bonmatí's native language is Catalan; she also speaks Spanish and English.

In 2023 she worked with Plataforma per la Llengua to campaign for the European Union (EU) to give Catalan official status in the EU, asking Petteri Orpo, the prime minister of Finland, to vote in favour.

Bonmatí also works in activism to support the UN Refugee Agency.

Bonmatí joined the local CD Ribes team when she was seven, playing there for four years and improving greatly.

Within the club there were around 400 boys, and Bonmatí was the only girl.

She started out as a defender, due to her physicality and fearlessness in tackling, as well as her "ability to steal the ball and initiate attacks [that] showcased her strength on the pitch"; her first coach compared her to legendary Barcelona centre-back Carles Puyol but still moved her into the midfield to have more influence on attacking play.

She then changed club and played for two years at CF Cubelles, as she liked their style of play; what she liked in football was playing on the ball and taking good touches, something she was able to do at Cubelles.

Aitana Bonmatí Conca (born 18 January 1998) is a Spanish professional footballer from Catalonia who plays as a midfielder for Liga F club Barcelona and the Spain national team.

She has also represented Catalonia.

She is considered one of the best players in women's football, and won the Ballon d'Or and The Best FIFA Women's Player Award for the 2022–23 season.

Aitana Bonmatí was born on 18 January 1998 in Vilanova i la Geltrú, the capital of the Garraf region of Catalonia, to Vicent Conca i Ferràs and Rosa Bonmatí Guidonet, and was raised in Sant Pere de Ribes in Garraf.

Her parents are teachers of Catalan language and literature, and instilled a love of reading in her from an early age.

Her parents were involved in the movement to abandon Spanish naming customs (which had the paternal surname being listed first), but could not legally do so when Bonmatí was born.

Her mother initially registered as a single parent and for the first two years of her life she was known as Aitana Bonmatí Guidonet.

During this time her parents campaigned and took a case to parliament to change Bonmatí's name, seeking advice from Imma Mayol and legal experts to form a proposal to change the legislation.

In May 1999, when Spain was on the verge of changing the law, Rosa Bonmatí appeared on Bon dia, Catalunya to present the argument in favour.

The law was changed in late 1999 and ratified in early 2000; Bonmatí was one of the first people in Spain to have her maternal surname as her first surname, and her paternal surname (Conca) as her second surname.

In 2023, Bonmatí honoured her parents, saying: "You fought for change and you succeeded, I carry that fight and resilience in my blood."

Bonmatí has been with Barcelona since 2012, developing through La Masia for six years.

She has won two UEFA Women's Youth Championships – in 2015 with the under-17 team and 2017 with the under-19s – and has been runner-up in two FIFA Youth Women's World Cups – in 2014 with the under-17s and 2018 with the under-20s.

She was promoted to Barcelona's first team ahead of the 2016–17 season, and made off-the-bench appearances for the club until her break-out year in the 2018–19 season.

She moved into the senior squad in 2017, featuring for Spain at the 2019 Women's World Cup and 2022 Women's Euro before having a starring role in the 2023 World Cup, where she also won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.

In 2019, she started the first UEFA Women's Champions League final of Barcelona's history, and later in the year was voted Catalan Player of the Year for the first time.

Throughout the 2020–21 season, Bonmatí was essential to Barcelona's continental treble-winning campaign.

She had one of the most noteworthy performances of her career in the 2021 UEFA Women's Champions League final, scoring Barcelona's third goal and being named MVP of the Final.

In the 2022–23 season, she improved her goalscoring prowess, scoring 19 times in all competitions and leading her team to another domestic double and Champions League in what is the most-decorated season of any individual footballer.

Bonmatí found success with Spain's under-17, under-19 and under-20 women's teams.