Paris St-Germain and France forward Ousmane Dembele has won the Ballon d'Or, which is the equivalent of the award for the best player in the world, capping a glorious year for a player who just a few years ago, was referred to as a wasted talent by many pundits.
The 28-year-old France forward scored 35 goals and provided 14 assists in 53 matches for PSG last season as they won the treble, including their first Champions League. Dembele also scored twice in seven caps for France in 2024-25.
Barcelona Women's Aitana Bonmati was named the women's player of the year for a third year in a row.
Dembele, was the joint top scorer in the French top flight Ligue 1, with 21 goals, and named the French top flight and Champions League player of the year. He also shone as PSG qualified for the Club World Cup final where they lost to Chelsea in New Jersey, USA in July.
He beat Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal to the award, was able to attend the ceremony in Paris despite his PSG side playing in a league match at the same time, due to the fact that he is out injured.
He was in tears as he stood on the stage, having finally shown the quality that Barcelona willingly paid an initial £96.8m, potentially rising to £135.5m, to sign him from Borussia Dortmund in 2017.
PSG, who dominated the 2025 Ballon d'Or awards with majority of their first 11 squad feted, will claim that they got the better part of the deal, by recruiting him for a third of the initial price, a knocked down £43.5m in 2023.
He is the sixth Frenchman to win the award and only the second of the 21st century after Karim Benzema in 2022. Then it was the legendary midfielder Zinédine Zidane who won the Ballon d'Or in 1998 whilst at Juventus - the season he won the World Cup with France, scoring two in the final against Brazil. Former striker Jean-Pierre Papin won the award in 1991 whilst at Marseille, whilst icon Michel Platini won it for three years in-a-row when at Juventus in the 1980's. Attacking midfielder Raymond Kopa was the first French winner in 1958 whilst at Real Madrid.
Lamine Yamal, 18, finished second and also won the Kopa Trophy for the best young player. PSG and Portugal midfielder Vitinha was third, and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah was fourth. Chelsea and England's Cole Palmer finished eighth.
Gyokeres earns top scorer gong
Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres won the Gerd Muller Trophy, which is awarded to the top scoring player in 2024-25 in European football for club and country.
The 27-year-old scored 54 goals in 52 games for Portuguese club Sporting last season – and nine goals in six Nations League games for Sweden.
He joined Arsenal in a deal worth up to £64m in the summer.
