The Cibeles Palace in Madrid will be the setting this Monday, starting at 8:00 p.m., for the Laureus 2024 Awards Gala, which will recognize the most outstanding athletes and teams of the year 2023 and where the best, and only options, of the Spanish sports come through women's football, brilliant last year individually and collectively.
Thus, facing the possibility of winning one of the symbolic 'Oscars of Sports' will be the international soccer players of FC Barcelona Aitana Bonmatí and Salma Paralluelo, and the Spanish soccer team, which are the three nominations of Spanish sports in this edition that will bring together in the capital to a large cast of world-class athletes and former athletes.
The FC Barcelona and national team midfielder is nominated for a Laureus Award for the first time. The Catalan will fight to obtain Best Female Athlete after a 2023 full of individual and collective successes since she added her second Champions League with FC Barcelona, the Ballon d'Or, to her world champion title with the 'Red' , The Best, the Best UEFA Player award and the 'MVP' recognitions of both the World Cup and the Champions League.
Aitana Bonmatí will have athletics rivals such as the Jamaican Sherica Jackson, 200 m world champion, the Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, the first woman to win the 1,500 and 5,000 m double at the World Championships, and the American Sha'Carri Richardson, world gold in 100 m and the 4x100 relay. The shortlist of candidates is completed by Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek, current world number one and Roland Garros champion, and American skier Mikkaela Shiffrin, who became the all-time leader in Alpine Ski World Cup victories. .
For her part, young forward Salma Paralluelo will fight for the Laureus for 'Best Newcomer' of 2023 after winning her third World Cup in Australia and New Zealand with the national team after those achieved with the U-17 and U-20, which also added his first Champions League with FC Barcelona.
The Aragonese will have as rivals for the award the English midfielder of Real Madrid Jude Bellingham, the Colombian forward of Real Madrid Linda Caicedo, the American tennis player Coco Gauff, champion of the US Open, the Chinese swimmer Qin Haiyang, winner of three golds in the World Cups from Fukuoka (Japan), and the British athlete Josh Kerr, capable of snatching the world gold in the 1,500 meters from the Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
Finally, the women's soccer team, which made history last summer by winning its first World Cup, will compete for the Laureus for the 'Best Team' against rivals such as Manchester City, which won its first Champions League and the treble, others two world champions such as the German men's basketball and South African rugby teams, the European Ryder Cup team, which recovered the trophy with the Spanish Jon Rahm in its ranks, and the Red Bull F-1 team.
In addition, there will also be a Spanish candidate for the Laureus 'Sport for Good' Award, which recognizes projects that promote sport in less privileged communities, with the Rafa Nadal Foundation, which uses sport and education to empower more than 1,000 vulnerable young people. in Spain and India.
On the other hand, regarding the 'Best Male Athlete' award, the Argentine striker Leo Messi, winner last year, is once again nominated along with the Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, the Swedish athlete Mondo Duplantis, the Dutch pilot Max Verstappen, the Norwegian forward Erling Haaland and American athlete Noah Lyles.
In addition, the American gymnast Simone Biles, the Ivorian striker Sébastien Haller, the British athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the South African rugby player Siya Kolisi and the Canadian basketball player Jamal Murray and the Czech tennis player Marketa Vondrousova will compete for the 'Best Comeback' award. '. Prizes will also be awarded to the 'Best Action Athlete' and the 'Best Athlete with a Disability'.
Candidates for world athlete of the year:
Novak Djokovic, Mondo Duplantis, Erling Haaland, Noah Lyles, Lionel Messi and Max Verstappen.
Candidates for world athlete of the year:
Aitana Bonmatí, Shericka Jackson, Faith Kipyegon, Sha'Carri Richardson, Mikaela Shiffrin and Iga Swiatek.
Candidates for World Team of the Year:
European Ryder Cup team, German men's basketball team, Manchester City, Red Bull F-1, South African men's rugby team and women's soccer team.
Candidate for world revolution of the year:
Jude Bellingham, Linda Caicedo, Coco Gauff, Qin Haiyang, Josh Kerr Salma Paralluelo.
Candidates for world comeback of the year:
Simone Biles, Sebastian Haller, Katharine Johnson-Thompson, Siya Kolisi, Jamal Murray and Marketa Vondrousova.
Candidates for athletes with disabilities:
Simone Barlaam, Danylo Chufarov, Diede de Groot, Luca Ekler, Nicole Murray and Markus Rehm.
Candidates for World Action Athlete of the Year:
Rayssa Leal, Caroline Marks, Kirsten Neuschafer, Bethany Shriever, Filipe Toledo and Arisa Trew.
Premios al Sport For Good:
Bola Pra Frente, Dancing Grounds, Rafa Nadal Foundation, ISF Cambodia Football x Education, Justice Desk Africa and Obiettivo Napoli.
