Ada Hegerberg becomes first woman to win Ballon d’Or

KARACHI: Norway and Lyon forward Ada Hegerberg became the first woman to win the prestigious Ballon d’Or award, which recognises the best football player in the world. At the age of 23, Hagerberg became the first woman to strike 300 goals and won the inaugural award, considered the highest honour in the world of football.

Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric won the men’s award. Over the past decade, either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo have claimed the trophy.

While there was much to celebrate, however, a co-host sparked controversy right after Hegerberg gave her winning speech, asking young girls to believe in themselves.

While she was accepting her award, DJ and co-host of the presentation Martin Solveig asked if she could twerk. In a video of the ceremony, Hagerberg is seen looking annoyed and responding with a “no” to his question. Though Solveig later apologised to Hagerberg and “all those who may have been offended,” twitter did not hold back in calling out the sexism on stage.

Here are some twitter reactions:

1. Can we not, please?

2. Poetic Justice?

3. ‘Misogyny at its worst’

4. ‘Nope.’ 

5. Did she know how to?

6. That’s all it should have been about!

Speaking to the BBC, the footballer said, “He came to me afterwards and was really sad that it went that way. I didn’t really think about it at the time. I was just happy to do the dance and win the Ballon d’Or to be honest. I will have a glass of champagne when I get back.”