Spain’s Aitana Bonmati diagnosed with viral meningitis ahead of Euro 2025

Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmati has been diagnosed with viral meningitis ahead of this summer’s European Championship, her head coach Montse Tome has confirmed.

On Friday night, the 27-year-old Barcelona midfielder posted a photo of herself watching Spain’s 3-1 defeat of Japan in a pre-tournament friendly from a hospital bed with a cannula in her arm.

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Bonmati, who has won each of the two most recent women’s Ballon d’Or awards for the best footballer in the world, is a key player for Spain, who play Portugal in their tournament opener on July 3.

“Aitana was feverish the previous night, the next day she did not get better,” Tome said on Friday.

“She was tired, we let her rest and then this morning the doctor took her to run some tests, at first the tests came back normal but the last test — and by the way she has authorised me to talk about this — shows that she has viral meningitis.

“She is under medical supervision, I know that this is an alarming situation but the doctor is telling me that she is being taken care of, she is in the hospital, we do not know for how long, but she wanted me to communicate the situation with you all. This is all I can share at this time.”

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Viral meningitis is the most common and least serious type of the disease, as opposed to bacterial meningitis. It is an inflammation of the protective membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

According to the British National Health Service (NHS), viral meningitis typically takes seven to 10 days to fully recover from.

Spain, the reining world champions, are among the favourites for Euro 2025 with Bonmati part of a midfield trio alongside club team-mates Patri Guijarro and Alexia Putellas.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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