Dembele Crowned Ballon d’Or 2025 Winner
What a night in Paris — Ousmane Dembélé has been crowned the Ballon d’Or winner for 2025, taking home football’s most prestigious individual honor for the very first time. The Paris Saint-Germain forward was officially named the best male player in the world after an extraordinary season that will be remembered as the turning point of his career.
At 28 years old, Dembélé finally delivered on the enormous promise that once convinced Barcelona to spend nearly £100 million on him back in 2017. Last season with PSG, he scored an incredible 35 goals and provided 14 assists across 53 matches. Those numbers weren’t just empty stats — they powered PSG to a historic treble, which included Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, and most importantly, the club’s very first Champions League trophy.
Dembélé was also named both Ligue 1 Player of the Year and Champions League Player of the Year, proving his influence stretched across every major competition. His run of form was so electric that from mid-December onward, after being shifted into a central role by manager Luis Enrique, he went on to score 30 goals in just a few months. That tactical adjustment is being credited as one of the decisive moves that helped PSG dominate the season and helped Dembélé finally unlock his best self.
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The French forward narrowly beat out Barcelona’s teenage prodigy Lamine Yamal, who finished runner-up, while PSG’s Vitinha rounded out the top three. In many ways, this feels like a symbolic passing of the torch: the veteran Frenchman finally realizing his potential just as a new generation begins to rise.
The moment of victory was particularly emotional. Dembélé, who has battled through years of injuries, inconsistency, and doubts about his mentality, couldn’t hold back tears as he dedicated the award to his family, especially his mother, who joined him on stage. For a player once written off as a wasted talent, this was redemption on the grandest stage.
What makes this even sweeter for PSG is the price they paid to sign him — just £43.5 million in 2023. Compared to the fortune Barcelona once spent, it now looks like one of the great bargains in football history. He has now become only the sixth Frenchman to ever win the Ballon d’Or, and the first since Karim Benzema lifted it in 2022.
It wasn’t just a big night for Dembélé. PSG dominated the awards overall, with Luis Enrique named Coach of the Year and the club winning Men’s Club of the Year. Meanwhile, Aitana Bonmatí claimed her third consecutive Women’s Ballon d’Or, cementing her place as one of the greatest in history.
But tonight belongs to Dembélé. A career that once seemed like a story of “what could have been” has been rewritten into one of resilience and ultimate triumph. After years of promise, doubt, and struggle, the Frenchman can finally say it: he is the best footballer in the world.
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