Ousmane Dembélé Wins The 2025 Ballon d’Or
Paris Saint-Germain and France international attacker Ousmane Dembélé has been named the winner of the 2025 Ballon d’Or, beating out Barcelona sensation Lamine Yamal.
A Stellar Season for Dembélé
Dembélé’s victory comes after a hugely successful season with PSG. The 28-year-old played in 60 matches, scoring 37 goals and providing 15 assists.
He led PSG to a clean sweep of domestic and international honors, winning the UEFA Champions League, Ligue 1, French Cup, and French Super Cup.
Although Yamal had an impressive season, helping Barcelona win La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Spanish Super Cup, and also winning the UEFA European Championship with Spain, his individual statistics fell short of Dembélé’s.
The 18-year-old featured in 55 matches, scoring 18 goals and providing 25 assists.
About the Ballon d’Or
The Ballon d’Or is awarded annually by the monthly magazine France Football in a ceremony co-organized with UEFA. The award recognizes the best male and female players in the world, regardless of their league or nationality.
The 2025 award’s reference period covered the entire season, from 1 August 2024 to 2 August 2025, including international competitions like the Club World Cup, Euros, Copa América, and the Women’s AFCON. (The 2024 Olympics were counted toward the previous edition of the award.)
The Ballon d’Or is judged on three criteria, in order of importance:
- Individual performances: Decisiveness and impressive character.
- Collective performances and achievements: Team success.
- Class and fair play.
An international jury of journalists votes on the award. For the men’s trophy, one representative from each of the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings casts a vote. The FIFA ranking used for this year’s award was the one published on 7 August 2025. This means there was a vote from a South African representative, as Bafana Bafana are ranked 54th in the world.
Each juror selects ten players in a descending order of merit from a shortlist of 30, which is compiled by the editorial staff of France Football, members of the L’Équipe editorial staff, at least one juror from the previous edition, and UEFA ambassadors.
