# Keira Walsh Left Out of Ballon d’Or Nominations Despite Stellar Career
Just a few years ago, it was only Fran Kirby and I who were being nominated for awards in the England team, but now there are so many players getting noticed. My Lionesses team-mates Millie Bright, Rachel Daly, Mary Earps and Georgia Stanway are all, rightly, up for the Ballon d’Or after being named on the 30-strong shortlist this month.
I was happy for them and also my Barcelona colleague Patricia Guijarro, among others. But there was one glaring omission. Keira Walsh, like me, left England for Spain to win the Champions League in the summer of 2022 and we achieved that in June, with the LaLiga title and the Supercopa completing a treble for us in our first season at Barca.
Keira was player of the match as we won the European Championship on home soil last year and has also now played in a World Cup final. She is one of the best midfielders, if not one of the best players, in the women’s game overall. So I just don’t understand how, in a pool of 30 players, she can be left out by the organisers.
## Why Was Keira Walsh Left Out of Ballon d’Or Nominations?
She has been England’s best player so many times for years and one of the best at Barca now too. She was integral to the side that won the Champions League in Eindhoven and also the Lionesses team that reached the World Cup final last month.
I know the media play a big part in the nominations for the Ballon d’Or, so it differs slightly from the Fifa Best awards in that respect. And I wonder if the slightly lesser spotlight on players in the Spanish league is a factor in Keira missing out. The Women’s Super League has been fantastic back home in England and has shone a massive light on our national team, much more so than the league in Spain or even France.
I believe there is an element of laziness to this too on the part of the people selecting their nominees – it’s easy to go for players who score goals, or captains, or those in the headlines, those who score in the big moments. Players who put in performances week in, week out, can go unnoticed. We know it will probably be a World Cup winner who gets the award but that’s not to say Keira (pictured) shouldn’t have been in the running. To not be on the list at all, I find shocking.
## Reflection on World Cup Final Defeat to Spain
We are back in camp with England, preparing for tonight’s first-ever Nations League match against Scotland in Sunderland. It is our first outing since the World Cup final and I’ve had plenty of time now to reflect on our 1-0 defeat to Spain in the final in Sydney.
Spain hadn’t started the tournament well, losing 4-0 to Japan, but got better and better, with confidence and momentum, and Keira and I see every day in training just how good these Barca and Spain players are. The game took a lot out of us physically and it was only when we changed formation in the second half we had a bit of a chance to get back into it.
There are no excuses but Spain are an unbelievable, world-class side. Keira and I spoke to the manager Sarina Wiegman before the final and couldn’t find anything negative to say about the Spanish players from our LaLiga experience. We know that as European champions we were expected to go on and win the World Cup but, while this was the first time Spain had won the tournament, this is a talented footballing nation we are talking about.
It was completely different to the Euros and we were so close to the same outcome despite missing some key players and the tournament not going as smoothly as it had done a year ago. People wrote us off, with Keira injured during the tournament and Lauren James banned for the quarter-finals and semi-finals after being sent off, but we did so many things people didn’t think we were capable of.
We had so much to contend with and still came out of the World Cup as the second-best team in it. If you had asked me after the final, I would have found it tougher to admit but I am proud of what we achieved despite losing.
Lucy Bronze is an ambassador for Team Kenya, who involve entire communities in gender equality so girls in rural Kenya can create their own bright futures – teamkenya.