Twerk ‘joke’ spoils Ada’s Ballon win
ADA Hegerberg has won the inaugural women’s Ballon d’Or from a star field that included Matildas ace Sam Kerr.
But the moment was tarnished when the Norwegian forward was asked if she could twerk after receiving the top honour.
Sixty-two years after Stanley Matthews won the first Ballon d’Or the women’s game received its first winner in Hegerberg. The 23-yearold gave an empowering speech to encourage more girls to play football, but as she was leaving the stage co-host of the Ballon d’Or award ceremony, DJ Martin Solveig, asked her in French if she could twerk. Hegerberg abruptly said “no” before walking away.
Solveig was the subject of criticism on social media for the exchange and quickly apologised for his comments.
“This was a joke, probably a bad one. I want to apologise to the one I offended, sorry about that,” he said via a video posted on Twitter.
Hegerberg played down the incident and said she had accepted Solveig’s apology.
A jury of 45 journalists voted Hegerberg the best player for 2018 from among 15 nominees. Matildas striker Kerr was fifth in the voting.
Kerr had another outstanding 2018 winning the NWSL golden boot, the PFA Women’s Footballer of the Year and ESPY Award for Best International Women’s Soccer Player.
Hegerberg called the award “a huge step for women’s football”. She scored a tournament-record 15 goals for Lyon in the Women’s Champions League last season.
Hegerberg, however, expressed frustration about living “in such a man’s world”.