Ballon d'Or voting: How close were Lamine Yamal and Mohamed Salah to Ousmane Dembele?

The results of the 2025 Ballon d'Or votes have been announced days after Ousmane Dembele claimed the prestigious award.

Dembele, 28, was part of the Paris Saint-Germain team that achieved a historic treble under Luis Enrique last season after years of underperformance in Europe.

The French forward scored eight goals in 15 matches en route to PSG's Champions League victory and received the award in Paris on Monday night.

With Lamine Yamal regarded as a strong contender for the prize, observers eagerly awaited the announcement of the voting results.

Dembele pips Yamal to Ballon d'Or, Salah far behind

The results show that Dembele had 1380 ranking points, 321 ahead of Barcelona sensation Yamal, who had 1059.

Vitinha, the Frenchman's PSG teammate, completed the top three, though the Portuguese midfielder was behind the leading pair with his 703 points.

Interestingly, Mohamed Salah was also a distant fourth with 657 points, with the Liverpool star possibly paying the price for the Reds' early Champions League exit to eventual winners PSG in the last 16.

?? OFFICIAL: Ballon d’Or votes.

1. Ousmane Dembélé: 1,380
2. Lamine Yamal: 1,059
3. Vitinha: 703
4. Mo Salah: 657
5. Raphinha: 620
6. Achraf Hakimi: 484
7. Kylian Mbappé: 378
8. Cole Palmer: 211
9. Donnarumma: 172
10. Nuno Mendes: 171 pic.twitter.com/am2olnsqs4
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 26, 2025

Notable names in the top 10 included Raphinha in fifth with 620 points, Achraf Hakimi in sixth with 484 points, Kylian Mbappe in seventh with 378 points, while Chelsea's Cole Palmer followed the 2018 World Cup winner with 211 points.

Who are the early frontrunners for the 2026 Ballon d'Or?

While it is still too early to identify early-season favourites, especially with the 2026 World Cup approaching next summer, Mbappe and Harry Kane have begun the 2025-26 season in impressive form.

The Real Madrid star has scored seven goals in six La Liga matches and nine in seven across all competitions under Xabi Alonso, highlighting the 26-year-old's ambition to win the award.

As for Kane, the Englishman has netted 10 Bundesliga goals in just five matches, along with 15 in eight across all competitions.

The Bayern forward recently surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland to become the quickest player to reach a century of goals in a top-five European league, shortly after overtaking David Beckham's goal contributions in the Champions League for an Englishman.

The season remains quite long, and more twists are expected, but both forwards have clearly made an early-season statement.