Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembele has landed the 2025 Ballon d’Or with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah missing out on the award yet again.
Aitana Bonmati, meanwhile, won the women’s Ballon d’Or – the most prestigious individual award in both men’s and women’s football – handed out to the player deemed to have performed best over the previous season.
Salah was the third favourite for the men’s Ballon d’Or – behind Dembele and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal – and previously declared that this year was his ‘best chance’ to finally get his hands on the trophy.
The Egyptian conjured up 29 goals and 18 assists across 38 Premier League games last season as Liverpool were crowned English champions.
But Salah has missed out on the 2025 Ballon d’Or, with the award going to PSG forward Dembele after he helped his side win the Champions League.
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Dembele registered eight goals and six assists in 15 Champions League games last term as PSG won the competition for the first time ever.
It ended up being a historic treble for PSG, who also landed the Ligue 1 title and Coupe de France under the management of Luis Enrique.
Full list of 2025 winners from Ballon d’Or awards ceremony
Kopa Trophy – the best-performing male and female player in the world under the age of 21 for the previous season.
- Male winner – Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
- Female winner – Vicky Lopez (Barcelona)
Yashin Trophy – world’s best male and female goalkeeper.
- Male winner – Gianluigi Donnarumma (Man City)
- Female winner – Hannah Hampton (Chelsea)
Johan Cruyff Trophy – best male and female head coach.
- Male winner – Luis Enrique (PSG)
- Female winner- Sarina Wiegman (England)
Club of the Year Trophy
- Men’s football winner – PSG
- Women’s football winner – Arsenal
Gerd Muller Trophy – world’s best male and female striker, based on goals scored for both their club and national team.
- Male winner – Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal)
- Female winner – Ewa Pajor (Barcelona)
Ballon d’Or
- Male winner – Ousmane Dembele (PSG)
- Female winner – Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona)
Dembele was named Ligue 1 Player of the Year and Champions League Player of the Season – and finished as the Ligue 1 top scorer in 2024-25.
The 28-year-old, who previously played for Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, is the first French winner of the Ballon d’Or award since Karim Benzema in 2022.
He has become the sixth Frenchman to win it in total after Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini, Jean-Pierre Papin, Zinedine Zidane and Benzema.
Salah: I want to win it for my people
Salah insists winning the Ballon d’Or will not make or break his career – but has spoken of his desire to be named the world’s best player several times.
‘If I win it, it would be great,’ Salah said earlier this year in an interview with France Football. ‘If I don’t win it, I think my career will also be very good.
‘But that image is in my head, always. I just want to win it for my people. That’s the thing that’s stuck in my head.’
Salah felt 2025 was his ‘best chance’ to win the Ballon d’Or after Liverpool clinched the Premier League title and he also won the Golden Boot.
‘I would say I never had a season like this and winning big trophies,’ Salah told Sky Sports in May when reflecting on the 2024-25 campaign.
‘So I would say this is my best chance to get it right now while I’m in the club because it’s been a crazy year, a crazy season with a trophy.
‘It’s given me a good chance.’
