Ousmane Dembele won the Ballon d’Or on Monday night after a magnificent season in which he scored 35 goals for PSG as they won the Champions League, league title and the French Cup.
The 28-year-old France forward’s 14 assists in 53 matches also helped PSG reach the final of the Club World Cup before going down to Chelsea.
“What I have just experienced is exceptional, I have no words for it, what happened with PSG,” said an emotional Dembele, whose mother joined him on the stage in Paris.
“I feel a bit of stress, it’s not easy to win this trophy, and to have it presented to me by Ronaldinho, a legend of football, is exceptional.
“I want to thank PSG who came to get me in 2023. It’s an incredible family. The president Nasser [Al-Khelaifi] is like a father to me. I also want to thank all the staff and the coach, who have been exceptional with me - he too is like a father - and all my team-mates.
“We have practically won everything together. You supported me in the good and the difficult times. This individual trophy is one the team has won collectively.”
Dembele also scored twice in seven caps for France in 2024-25.
He is the sixth Frenchman to win the award and only the second of the 21st century after Karim Benzema in 2022.
Dembélé won ahead of teenage star Lamine Yamal. The forward, who turned 18 in July, helped Barcelona win La Liga and the Copa del Rey last season and reach the Champions League semi-finals. Yamal was, however, given the Kopa award for the best under-21 player for the second straight year.
Five of the top 10 players in the voting were part of the PSG team last season including Vitinha (third), Achraf Hakimi (sixth), Gianluigi Donnarumma (ninth) and Nuno Mendes (10th).
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah of Egypt was fourth and Chelsea and England’s Cole Palmer finished eighth.
Last year’s winner, Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri, did not make the shortlist this time after an injury-hit campaign.
The cream of world football gathered at the Theatre du Chatelet in central Paris to discover who would be the latest winners of an award dominated for so long by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Those two won the Ballon d’Or 13 times between them from 2008 to 2023, with last year finally marking the end of an era when the award went to Rodri after he captained Spain to Euro 2024 glory.
With Rodri not a contender to retain the most prestigious individual prize in football after last season was marred by injury, Dembele emerged as the favourite from a list of nominees dominated by PSG.
A remarkable nine members of the PSG team that won the Champions League, demolishing Inter Milan 5-0 in the final, featured among the 30 nominees.
Because the French soccer league postponed a Sunday night match between host Marseille and PSG by 24 hours due to a severe weather forecast, the match at Stade Velodrome was played on Monday.
That clashed with the Ballon d’Or ceremony and prevented most PSG players from attending.
However, Dembélé, and his fellow nominees Désiré Doué and João Neves are injured and were not in the matchday squad, leaving them free to attend the ceremony.
Though he finished only fourth, Liverpool talisman Salah put together one of the all-time great individual Premier League seasons, the fuel behind Arne Slot’s debut season title win.
With 29 goals and 18 assists in the league, Salah matched the all-time record for goal involvements in a single campaign, with 47. This is a record now jointly shared with Alan Shearer and Andy Cole, both of whom set their records in 42-match seasons.
While the Reds fell to PSG in their push for a seventh Champions League title, Salah’s individual exploits this season were nevertheless remarkable, propelling Liverpool to a record-equalling 20th English top-flight crown.
His goals tally also secured him the Golden Boot - the fourth time he has won it, a record shared with Arsenal legend Thierry Henry. The 33-year-old was also named the Premier League’s player of the year for a second time.
The Egypt forward scored three times in the Champions League before Liverpool lost to eventual winners Paris St-Germain in the last 16.
Arguably the best campaign of a player who has netted 20-plus goals in eight consecutive seasons at Anfield, there is a strong argument that recognition under the Ballon d’Or banner is long overdue – and remains so. In fact, Salah might go down as the best player never to have won the Ballon d’Or.
In other trophies, Aitana Bonmatí of Spain received the women’s award for a third successive year.
Bonmati won a domestic treble with Barcelona and also reached the Champions League final.
“Third time in a row here and I still can’t believe it,” Bonmatí said. “I owe Barcelona everything, this is the club of my life.”
Barcelona forward Vicky Lopez won the women’s Kopa trophy for an under-21 and Sarina Wiegman, who led England to European victory, took the Johan Cruyff award for best women’s coach. On a great night for PSG, Luis Enrique won in the men’s category.
PSG was voted the best men’s club and Donnarumma received the Lev Yashin award for best goalkeeper. Donnarumma, whose shot-stopping in the knockout stages proved crucial to PSG’s success, left for Manchester City during the offseason. England’s Hannah Hampton was crowned the best women’s goalkeeper.
The men’s and women’s Gerd Müller trophies for the top scorers went to Barcelona’s Ewa Pajor and Viktor Gyokeres, who joined Arsenal this summer from Sporting Portugal after a prolific season.
The Ballon d’Or was created by France Football magazine and has been awarded since 1956 for men, and since 2018 for women. It is voted for by journalists from the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings for the men’s award and the top 50 FIFA-ranked countries for the women’s award.
Each journalist, one per country, selects players in ranked order with points attributed to each position.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 25 September, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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