Ballon d'Or 2025: How Ousmane Dembele pipped Lamine Yamal, Mohamed Salah to top prize after PSG Champions League success

Paris Saint-Germain attacker Ousmane Dembele has won the 2025 Ballon d'Or.

The 28-year-old first-time winner pipped Barcelona sensation Lamine Yamal, teammate Vitinha and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah to the prestigious accolade, becoming the second French winner in four years after Karim Benzema's success in 2022.

Dembele is also just the second PSG player to get his hands on the solid gold trophy after Lionel Messi in 2021, as his career hits a new zenith formerly unforeseen during his troubled days at Barcelona.

Elsewhere on the evening, Barcelona Women's Aitana Bonmati made it a historic three-peat of Ballon d'Or Feminin awards, pipping Arsenal duo Mariona Caldentey and Alesisa Russo to the accolade after her successes in 2023 and 2024.

In doing so, the 27-year-old became just the third player - male or female - to clinch three successive Ballon d'Or awards, after Messi and Michel Platini.

Fellow Blaugrana and Spain stars Lamine Yamal and Vicky Lopez took home the men's and women's Kopa Trophies respectively, while Manchester City's Gianluigi Donnarumma and Chelsea Women's Hannah Hampton won the Yashin Trophies recognising the world's best goalkeepers.

Barcelona's haul of success continued with Ewa Pajor claiming the Women's Gerd Muller Trophy for the year's top goalscorer, as Arsenal's Viktor Gyokeres claimed the corresponding men's prize for his astounding 54-goal season with Sporting Lisbon.

The Johan Cruyff awards for the globe's best coaches went to UCL-winning Luis Enrique and England Women's Sarina Wiegman, who led the Lionesses to back-to-back European Championship crowns with a thrilling penalty-shootout win over Spain in the final.

Enrique's PSG were also voted the Men's Club of the Year, while corresponding Women's Champions League winners Arsenal collected the prize for the Women's Club of the Year.

How Dembele beat Yamal, Salah to 2025 Ballon d'Or

By helping PSG finally end their wretched run of perpetual Champions League failures, Dembele was already at a significant advantage over the likes of Yamal, Raphinha and Salah when it came to the voting for the Ballon d'Or.

While individual achievements ought to be taken into account first and foremost, collective success can often separate the winners from the also-rans, especially when one played such a critical part in PSG's continental triumph as Dembele did.

The former Borussia Dortmund sensation came up with a magnificent 14 goal contributions in 15 matches en route to PSG's first UCL title - eight of his own and six assists - and he either scored or assisted in every game from the second leg of the last 16 onwards.

That streak includes the winning goal in PSG's first-leg semi-final win over Arsenal, as well as a pair of assists in the 5-0 final thumping of Inter Milan, which earned him the tournament's Player of the Season prize.

Dembele also took home a share of the 2024-25 Ligue 1 Golden Boot with Marseille's Mason Greenwood, firing in 21 strikes as PSG customarily surged to the title, and across all competitions, his record read 51 direct involvements from 53 matches.

Raphinha (59 contributions from 57 games) and Salah (57 from 52) both had a hand in more goals than Dembele, while Yamal managed a ridiculous 25 assists across the season, but the PSG phenom's triumphant Champions League feats were always expected to carry him over the Ballon d'Or line.

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Ballon d'Or 2025 men's results in full 

1. Ousmane Dembele (PSG/France)

2. Lamine Yamal (Barcelona/PSG)

3. Vitinha (PSG/Portugal)

4. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/Egypt)

5. Raphinha (Barcelona/Brazil)

6. Achraf Hakimi (PSG/Morocco)

7. Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid/France)

8. Cole Palmer (Chelsea/England)

9. Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG and Manchester City/Italy)

10. Nuno Mendes (PSG/Portugal)

11. Pedri (Barcelona/Spain)

12. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG/Georgia)

13. Harry Kane (Bayern Munich/Germany)

14. Desire Doue (PSG/France)

15. Viktor Gyokeres (Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal/Sweden)

16. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid/Brazil)

17. Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona/Poland)

18. Scott McTominay (Napoli/Scotland) 

19. Joao Neves (PSG/Portugal)

20. Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan/Argentina)

21. Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund/Guinea)

22. Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool/Argentina)

23. Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid/England)

24. Fabian Ruiz (PSG/Spain)

25. Denzel Dumfries (Inter Milan/Netherlands)

26. Erling Haaland (Manchester City/Norway)

27. Declan Rice (Arsenal/England)

28. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool/Netherlands)

29. Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen and Liverpool/Germany)

30. Michael Olise (Bayern Munich/France)

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Ballon d'Or 2025: Full award list:

Ballon d'Or

Ousmane Dembele (PSG/France)

Ballon d'Or Feminin

Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona/Spain)

Men's Kopa Trophy

Lamine Yamal (Barcelona/Spain)

Women's Kopa Trophy 

Vicky Lopez (Barcelona/Spain)

Women's Johan Cruyff Trophy

Sarina Wiegman (England Women/Netherlands)

Men's Johan Cruyff Trophy 

Luis Enrique (PSG/Spain)

Men's Yashin Trophy

Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG and Manchester City\Italy)

Women's Yashin Trophy

Hannah Hampton (Chelsea/England)

Men's Club of the Year

PSG

Women's Club of the Year

Arsenal

Men's Gerd Muller Trophy

Viktor Gyokeres (Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal/Sweden)

Women's Gerd Muller Trophy

Ewa Pajor (Barcelona/Poland)

Socrates Award

Xana Foundation