The Norwegian striker Ada Hegerberg won the first ever women’s Ballon d’Or which was voted for by a panel of journalists.

Olympique Lyonnais' Norwegian forward Ada Hegerberg gestures after receiving the 2018 FIFA Women's Ballon d'Or award for best player of the year during the 2018 FIFA Ballon d'Or award ceremony at the Grand Palais in Paris on December 3, 2018. - The winner of the 2018 Ballon d'Or will be revealed at a glittering ceremony in Paris on December 3 evening, with Croatia's Luka Modric and a host of French World Cup winners all hoping to finally end the 10-year duopoly of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo credit should read FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images)
Olympique Lyonnais’ Norwegian forward Ada Hegerberg gestures after receiving the 2018 FIFA Women’s Ballon d’Or award for best player of the year during the 2018 FIFA Ballon d’Or award ceremony at the Grand Palais in Paris on December 3, 2018. – The winner of the 2018 Ballon d’Or will be revealed at a glittering ceremony in Paris on December 3 evening, with Croatia’s Luka Modric and a host of French World Cup winners all hoping to finally end the 10-year duopoly of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo credit should read FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images)

She came in ahead of Denmark’s Pernille Harder and Germany’s Dszenifer Maroszan.

The Olympique Lyonnais player has had a fantastic season with her club, winning a League – Champions League double. She established a new Champions League record with 15 goals scored during the season from just nine games. Hegerberg also scored 31 goals in 20 League games in the D1 Feminine.

On the international side, she has not been selected since the Euros 2017 as she retired following a disastrous tournament. Due to disagreements with the NFF, she has decided not to receive any more call-ups. Her record stands at 38 goals in 66 games.

Hegerberg’s honours list with Olympique Lyonnais is simply remarkable and she thanked the OL president Jean-Michel Aulas who is passionate about women’s football and invests a lot in the Lyon Women’s side.

LYON, FRANCE - APRIL 29: Ada Hegerberg of Olympique Lyonnais looks on during the UEFA Women's Champions League, Semi Final Second Leg match between Olympique Lyonnais and Manchester City at Groupama Stadium on April 29, 2018 in Lyon, France. (Photo by Emilio Andreoli/Getty Images)
LYON, FRANCE – APRIL 29: Ada Hegerberg of Olympique Lyonnais looks on during the UEFA Women’s Champions League, Semi Final Second Leg match between Olympique Lyonnais and Manchester City at Groupama Stadium on April 29, 2018 in Lyon, France. (Photo by Emilio Andreoli/Getty Images)

Three Champions Leagues, four Leagues, three French Cups and the league’s top scorer three times, Hegerberg was also UEFA player of the year in 2016.

Her goals-per-game ratio with Lyon is phenomenal. Hegerberg averages 1.24 goals per game with 182 goals in 147 games. Her league record in terms of goals scored is as follows: 26 – 33- 20- 31 and 10 in 10 this season.

The runner-up, Pernille Harder, also had an exceptional season and could have been crowned with only six points separating the two players. The Denmark captain was the Frauen-Bundesliga top scorer and won the League and Cup double with Wolfsburg. She was also runner-up in the Champions League, losing 4-1 aet against Lyon.

The award presentation was marred by sexist omments by host, DJ Martin Solveig who asked Hegerberg if she could twerk.

In no circumstances can you imagine Luka Modric or Kylian M’Bappe being asked the same sort of question at Football’s biggest awards ceremony.

Solveig later apologied, but the damage had already been done.

The full voting panel and their vote is as follows:

https://twitter.com/Sport_Witness/status/1069708944900276224?s=19

https://twitter.com/beinsports_FR/status/1069712918999126016?s=19

English players were among the nominees with Lucy Bronze, who plays her club football with Ada Hegerberg, in sixth place.

Chelsea’s Fran Kirby finished in fourteenth place and then went on to finish second in the FSF Player of the Year vote which was won by Arsenal’s Beth Mead.