Vivianne Miedema says she 'didn't feel appreciated' as a woman at the Ballon d'Or

Vivianne Miedema has slammed the Ballon d'Or, claiming the award ceremony doesn't treat women equally to men.

The Arsenal forward was in attendance at this year's ceremony alongside partner and Women's Ballon d'Or runner-up Beth Mead.

She finished behind Alexia Putellas with that award the only one handed out to a female footballer back in October.

Six other awards were available to men's players, including the Men's Ballon d'Or, won by Karim Benzema.

Miedema has discussed the ceremony for the first time, admitting she felt the women's game deserved more respect.

She told BBC's Behind The Goals podcast: "I didn't feel appreciated as a woman footballer there.

"If they want to have women involved, they have to do it in a different way. They had five or six different awards for the men's game, while the women only have one. If they want to make it equal, they have to give the same awards to men's and women's football."

The Women's Ballon d'Or was introduced back in 2018. Barcelona midfielder Putellas became the first woman to retain the award, despite Mead helping England to Euro 2022 glory over the summer.

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Miedema also addressed another incident from the ceremony. Mead was described as Miedema's 'guest' in the caption of a photo from the event, despite her own footballing credentials.

She took it in her stride at the time, even joking about it on social media. In hindsight, all it did was shine a light on Miedema's issues.

She used Paris Saint-Germain duo Lionel Messi and Neymar in her example, claiming it wouldn't ever happen to them.

The Netherlands international continued: "Waking up the next morning and that picture pops up, that states the issue we had the night before.

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"We've got the number two from that year, who should arguably have been number one, turning up to the event as 'my guest'. That would obviously never happen if Messi and Neymar had been walking next to each other."

Miedema was stretchered off as Arsenal progressed to the Champions League knockout stages on Thursday evening.

The 26-year-old went down holding her knee in the first half against Lyon after attempting to reach the ball.

Arsenal lost the game 1-0 but will advance as winners of Group C if they beat Zurich in their final group game.

Topics: Arsenal

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a social editor for SPORTbible after moving from the writing team. Nearly scored past Stormzy at Old Trafford once.

@DanMarland_