Spain star Aitana Bonmatí hospitalized with meningitis less than a week before Euro 2025

By Canadian Press on June 28, 2025.

MADRID (AP) — Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmatí, the two-time Ballon d’Or holder, has been hospitalized with viral meningitis less than a week before the Women’s European Championship begins.

Spain coach Montse Tomé said late on Friday that her star player had felt ill and was taken to a hospital in Madrid where she tested positive for meningitis.

Spain’s team is set to travel to Switzerland on Sunday for the tournament. Its first game is against Portugal on Thursday in Bern.

“Aitana is a very important player for us and we will wait for her,” Tomé said after Bonmatí missed Friday’s friendly against Japan in the Spanish capital when Spain beat the visitors 3-1.

The 27-year-old Bonmatí has won the top individual award for women’s soccer for the past two years. The Barcelona player was key in Spain winning the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

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The Associated Press