Player Profile: Ada Hegerberg's Route To The Ballon d'Or

Norway international Ada Hegerberg was crowned the inaugural Women's Ballon d'Or winner in the annual awards ceremony.

The Lyon forward who has broke almost every record that has been set in her short career was the deserving winner at the ceremony in Paris.

Hegerberg beat Wolfsburg's Pernille Harder and her Lyon team mate Dzsenifer Marozsán as she picked up the trophy alongside Men's winner Luka Modric.

We take a look at just how the 23-year-old has been able to work her way to the very top of the Women's game in such a short space of time.

National Team At 15

Hegerberg was just 15-years-old when she was called up to the Norway U19 team after impressing national coaches with her performances for Kolbotn.

She was selected for the squad that qualified for the 2011 UEFA U19's Championship, and went on to play her part as Norway reached the final.

Sister Andrinne

Ada's sister Andrinne is also a professional footballer and currently plays for PSG.

The girls both started their careers at Kolbotn, but took different paths to the very top of the women's game.

Andrinne, who is two years older, played for Birmingham City during the 2016-18 seasons before her move to France.

Senior Debut At 16

Just a year later she was making her senior international debut at the age of 16.

In the same season she was included in Norway's U20 World Cup squad for the 2012 tournament in Japan.

Hegerberg scored once in the group stage game against Canada.

Move To Lyon In 2014

Ada decided to make the move to Lyon in the summer of 2014 in pursuit of greatness.

As a 19-year-old she had a lot to prove and she sure did, scoring 26 league goals in 22 games in her very first season in France, including three hat-tricks.

Domestic Double

Hegerberg's performances helped Lyon win the domestic double convincingly.

After winning all 22 games in the league to finish on 88 points, Hegerberg scored the opener in a 2-1 win in the Coupe de France final against Montpellier saw them complete the double.

2015 World Cup

Hegerberg was named in Norway's 2015 World Cup squad and scored three goals en route to the quarter-finals.

In the quarter-finals they met Mark Sampson's England and lost 2-1 as the Three Lions went on to their first ever World Cup semi-final.

Retain Domestic Double

After the disappointment of the summer, Hegerberg returned to Lyon and picked up from where she left off.

Lyon retained the domestic double comfortably, with Hegerberg scoring 41 goals in 26 games. 33 of those goals came in the league, seeing her finish the season as the league's top goalscorer.

Champions League Winner

Lyon and Hegerberg added the Champions League to their trophy cabinet in 2016.

Ada's 13 goals in the competition saw her finish as the competition's top goalscorer, taking her season tally to to 54.

Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year 2016

With a treble winning season under her belt, Hegerberg was crowned Norway's Sportsperson of the Year for 2016.

By winning the award, she became the first female footballer to win it and the first footballer since 1981.

2016 UEFA Best Women's Player in Europe Award

Hegerberg's 2016 achievements didn't end there as she was named UEFA's Best Women's player in the August.

She beat fellow team mate Amandine Henry (2nd) and Frankfurt's Dzsenifer Marozsán.

Another Treble Winning Season

Going into the 2016-17 season, Hegerberg and Lyon were able to emulate their treble winning season, with three more trophies added to the cabinet.

Hegerberg finished the season as the top goalscorer with 20 goals.

BBC Women's Footballer of the Year

The BBC recognised Ada for her achievements in 2017 by crowning her as Women's Footballer of the Year.

Hegerberg beat Bayern Munich's Melanie Behringer, Chelsea's Hedvig Lindahl, Orlando Pride's Marta and Portland Thorns' Christine Sinclair.

Break From International Duty

In the summer of 2017, Hegerberg decided to take a break from international football due to a lack of respect for female players in Norway.

Hegerberg explained the break which includes not playing in next year's World Cup, saying:

"A lot of things need to be done to make the conditions better for women who play football," she said. "It's all about how we respect women's football. I don't think the respect has been there.

"Sometimes you have to take tough decisions to stay true to yourself. I let them know, quite clearly, what I found wasn't working."

Fourth Successive Title

Last season, Hegerberg won her fourth successive league title with Lyon, an unprecedented record.

Unfortunately her and her team mates were unable to win a fourth successive Coup de France trophy, losing 1-0 to PSG in the final.

Third Successive Champions League

Hegerberg set a Champions League scoring record as Lyon romped to the 2018 title.

Including one in the final, the Norwegian netted 15 times in the tournament, only Cristiano Ronaldo has managed to score more goals in one Champions League season.

Wages

Ada signed a bumper new deal earlier this year, keeping her at Lyon until 2021.

It is rumoured that her new contract makes her one of the highest paid female players in world football, with an estimated £300,000 annual salary.

Ballon d'Or Winner

In December 2018, Ada was crowned the inaugural winner of the Women's Ballon d'Or trophy.

Hegerberg won the trophy with 136 points, with Wolsburg's Pernille Harder with 130 points and Hegerberg's Lyon team mate Dzsenifer Marozsán with 86.

Twerking Comment

As is customary after being awarded the trophy, Hegerberg had to answer some questions on stage.

The questions were asked by DJ Martin Solveig, who had been tasked with giving out the trophy.

Unfortunately in what should have been a big step forward for women in football, Solveig decided to ask the question "Do you know how to twerk?"

Hegerberg was physically shocked by the question but later claimed she didn't think it was sexual harrassment, despite the obvious negative connotations.

Post Ballon d'Or Tweet

Hegerberg celebrated her win by taking to Twitter and ignoring the fact she and Martin Solveig were trending for all the wrong reasons and posted this image.

"WHAT A NIGHT!" she captioned the image, unfortunately the footballing world will likely remember it for Solveig's comment rather than celebrating her incredible achievement.