Paris Saint-Germain and France footballer Ousmane Dembele is the winner of the Men’s Ballon d’Or 2025 award for being the player of the year. Meanwhile, Spain and Barcelona Femení player Aitana Bonmatí won her third Women’s Ballon d’Or in a row.
The Ballon d’Or is an annual award ceremony hosted by France Football magazine to award and celebrate some of the best footballers in the world. The award, essentially, determines who is to be awarded as the best player in the world over the past year.
Dembele and Bonmati win Ballon d’Or 2025
The 69th Ballon d’Or award ceremony at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris celebrated players and managers who had a splendid 2024-25 season. We start with the award that is not given for the on-field success of a player or a team, but for humanitarian work done around the support, the Sócrates Award.
Luis Enríques’ Xana Foundation won this award, which aims to assist families of young people affected by serious illness. The organisation is named after Enrique’s daughter, Xana, who passed away in 2019 at the age of nine.
We now move to the Men’s and Women’s Koppa Trophy, given to the best U21 players in the world. The trophy was awarded to women’s footballers for the first time ever, with Spain and Barcelona midfielder Vicky López being the first-ever winner.
As for the men’s title, to no one’s surprise, Lamine Yamal won it for the second year in a row, becoming the first-ever two-time Kopa Trophy winner.
Next up is the Men’s and Women’s Johan Cruyff Trophy, given to the best managers in men’s and women’s football. In the women’s category, there was no competition, as Sarina Wiegman, who is the manager of the England Women’s National Team. Wiegman guided England to their second UEFA Women’s Euro title in a row.
The men’s title was much more competitive. Liverpool’s Arne Slot, Chelsea’s Enzo Maresca, Barcelona’s Hansi Flick, and Napoli’s Antonio Conte did better with their sides than was expected. But there was always going to be only one winner in this category, that being Luis Enrique, who won the treble with PSG, including the UEFA Champions League. Enrique, not present at the ceremony, accepted the award with a pre-recorded message.
Speaking of PSG, they were named the best Men’s Club of the Year for winning that aforementioned treble. Meanwhile, the Women’s Club of the Year award was given to Arsenal WFC, which won only one title the previous season, that being the Champions League.
Check Out: Dembele and Bonmati win Ballon d’Or 2025
Now we arrive at individual awards. First up, the Yashin Trophy, awarded to the best goalkeeper of the year. The Men’s title, while being a fierce competition between the likes of Liverpool’s Alisson Becker, Inter Milan’s Yann Sommer, and Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois, was naturally won by Italy and PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
On the other hand, the Women’s Yashin Trophy, an award that was being given out for the first time ever, was won by England and Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, the first ever woman to win the Yashin Trophy.
Next up, the Gerd Müller Trophy. Like some other awards on the night, the women were getting the award for the best striker in the world for the first time. Poland and Barcelona striker Ewa Pajor became the first-ever Women’s Gerd Müller Trophy winner.
As for the men, the answer was quite obvious here. Viktor Gyökeres lit the world on fire with his performances for Sporting CP the year before, and he was recognised as the best striker in the world as the winner of the Gerd Müller Trophy.
And finally, we arrive at the Ballon d’Or 2025 winner. The title is given to the best men’s and women’s footballers in the world for the past year. In the Women’s Ballon d’Or 2025 category, the top 10 was filled with players from Barcelona, Arsenal, and Chelsea. The top two were Arsenal striker Mariona Caldentey and Barca midfielder Aitana Bonmati.
But it was Bonmati who picked up the award for the third year in a row. The award, first given in 2018, has been awarded on seven occasions to four different players. Aitana Bonmati’s dominance over this record, however, has been unparalleled, as she has now won it thrice, and that too back-to-back-to-back.
Meanwhile, the Men’s Ballon d’Or 2025 was a much closer battle. Players with stellar seasons like Florian Wirtz, Erling Haaland, and Jude Bellingham didn’t even crack the top 20. Last year’s Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, runner-up Vinicius Jr, a world-class striker like Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski, and a player like Scott McTominay, who had a career season, failed to make it to the top 10.
Paris Saint-Germain defender Nuno Mendes finished 10th on the list, while Yashin Trophy winner Donnarumma was ninth. England striker Cole Palmer finished 8th, behind Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe and PSG’s Achraf Hakimi in 7th and 6th, respectively.
Barcelona winger Raphinha, who was a favourite to win the award throughout the year, kicks off the top five. Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah, who was arguably the best striker of the year, finished fourth in the Men’s Ballon d’Or 2025 list, while PSG midfielder Vitinha cracked the top 3.
This means that young Barcelona star and Kopa Trophy winner Lamine Yamal was to take on Paris Saint-Germain winger Ousmane Dembele for the biggest individual title in football.
While Yamal is looked at as a future great and one of the best young prospects in the sport ever, tonight belonged to France and PSG star Dembele, who, only a couple of years ago, was seen as a player with wasted potential on the bench at FCB. This is the second time in the past five seasons that a French player has won this award, after Karim Benzema did so in 2022.
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