Ousmane Dembélé has already been crowned the 2025 Ballon d’Or winner, finishing ahead of Lamine Yamal in the final voting.

Quick Scoop: Who won Ballon d’Or 2025?

  • The 2025 Ballon d’Or went to Ousmane Dembélé (PSG/France).
  • Lamine Yamal (Barcelona/Spain) was widely seen as the closest challenger and finished just behind him in the rankings.
  • The award capped a standout year in which Dembélé led PSG to major titles and produced elite attacking numbers across all competitions.

Why Dembélé was the favorite

  • Multiple prediction lists and power rankings had Dembélé as the overwhelming frontrunner, with around 85% of prediction sources putting him first before the ceremony.
  • He delivered a decisive Champions League campaign for PSG, including key goals and assists in the knockout stages, which heavily influenced voters.
  • His combined output for club and country in 2025 (goals, assists, big-game performances) was consistently highlighted as the main reason he edged out the field.

Top names in the final rankings

Here are some of the main players who appeared near the top of consolidated 2025 Ballon d’Or lists.

[9][1][3] [1][7] [1] [1] [1] [1] [5][9][1]
Rank (Men) Player Club(s) in 2025 Nation Notes
1 Ousmane Dembélé PSG France Champion League-winning season, standout creative and scoring numbers.
2 Lamine Yamal Barcelona Spain Historic year as a teenager with 20+ goals and 20+ assists across competitions.
3 Vitinha PSG Portugal Key midfield influence in PSG’s trophy run.
4 Mohamed Salah Liverpool Egypt Maintained elite attacking numbers and remained in outside contention.
5 Raphinha Barcelona Brazil Important role in Barça’s domestic success and European run.
6 Achraf Hakimi PSG Morocco Highly rated for two-way full-back performances.
7 Kylian Mbappé Real Madrid France Still among the world’s best, but predictions suggested he would miss out again in 2025.

What forums and buzz were saying

Football news outlets and fan discussions in 2025 framed the race largely as a duel between Dembélé and Yamal.

Common viewpoints included:

  1. Dembélé “finally fulfilled his potential” with a complete season at PSG:
    • Fans highlighted his Champions League heroics and improved consistency.
  1. Yamal as the future:
    • Many forum-style discussions framed Yamal as the likely future Ballon d’Or regular, even if 2025 came a bit too soon for him to win.
  1. Others in the chasing pack:
    • Salah, Mbappé, Raphinha, Vitinha, and several rising names (like Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia) were often mentioned as outside shots but not clear favorites.

“It’s basically Dembele’s to lose – Champions League plus his numbers are too big to ignore, but Yamal is coming.” – typical sentiment reflected in 2025 discussions.

SEO-style extras

  • Focus keyword used: “ballon d’or 2025 who will win” – the answer is that Ousmane Dembélé did, in fact, win the 2025 Ballon d’Or.
  • Related context:
    • 2024 winner was Rodri, whose injury-hit follow-up season reduced his chances of defending the award in 2025.
* Power rankings throughout early and mid‑2025 consistently pushed Dembélé and Yamal to the top as form players of the year.

Meta description style line:
Ousmane Dembélé won the 2025 Ballon d’Or after a dominant season with PSG, beating teenage star Lamine Yamal and other top contenders in a race that had fans debating all year.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.