Ballon d’Or: PSG star Ousmane Dembele claims prestigious prize at Paris ceremony

Ousmane Dembele has been crowned as winner of the 2025 Ballon d’Or at a ceremony in Paris.

The Paris Saint-Germain forward had long since been considered the favourite for the most prestigious individual award in football, having inspired PSG to an unprecedented treble last season.

Dembele was able to attend the ceremony due to a hamstring injury that kept him out of PSG’s clash with arch rivals Marseille, which was put back by a day because of a storm warning.

A host of PSG’s other nominees were not able to attend the ceremony because of the rescheduling, but Desire Doue and Joao Neves were in attendance as they recover from their own injuries, allowing them to celebrate with their team-mate.

Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal finished second following his pivotal role in Barcelona’s success in LaLiga and the Copa del Rey last season, with his team-mate Raphinha surprisingly fifth behind PSG’s Vitinha and Liverpool star Mo Salah.

Dembele’s deserved Ballon d’Or triumph

There can be no denying that Dembele deserves the accolade given the instrumental role he played in a history-making season for PSG.

Dembele, a 2023 signing from Barca, had 27 goal involvements in Ligue 1 last campaign scoring 21 goals and assisting six for his team-mates. He scored three times in the Coupe de France as PSG retained that title, also providing an assist. However, it was his performances in the Champions League that were critical in securing him the Ballon d’Or.

Indeed, Dembele found the net eight times in Europe’s premier club competition in 2024-25, including the levelling goal in the tie against Liverpool in the last 16 and the only goal in the first leg of the semi-final against Arsenal. 

With six assists to his name in the competition, Dembele finished the 2024-25 Champions League with 14 goal involvements, a tally bettered only by Raphinha (21) and Serhou Guirassy (17).

Dembele was overshadowed by Doue’s superb hat-trick in the 5-0 rout against Inter Milan in the final, though his two assists reflected his hugely impressive consistency as a positive influence for the best team in European football.

Yamal misses out on double

Yamal had already been named as the winner of the Kopa Trophy, recognising the best player in the world under the age of 21.

The 18-year-old was phenomenal in helping Barca secure the double and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, where they narrowly lost to Inter in extra time of a remarkable last-four tie.

Indeed, Yamal scored 18 goals in all competitions and provided 21 assists as he took his game to another level following his breakthrough campaign of 2023-24.

Both Yamal and Raphinha can be considered unfortunate to have missed out, with the latter’s position in the voting a significant eyebrow-raiser.

In addition to his stunning exploits in the Champions League, Barca talisman Raphinha also scored 18 times in LaLiga, laying on nine assists, and had five goal involvements in the Copa del Rey (one goal, four assists).

Had Barca prevailed in the Champions League, one of Yamal or Raphinha likely would have collected the prize from former Blaugrana and PSG icon Ronaldinho.

Instead, they could only watch as the award instead went to a man who had to leave the Catalan club to realise his full potential.