Dembélé wins first Ballon d’Or after historic PSG treble
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) forward Ousmane Dembélé has won the Ballon d’Or—the award for the best player in the world—for the first time.
The 28-year-old French forward scored 35 goals and provided 14 assists in 53 matches for PSG last season, helping them win the treble, including their first-ever Champions League title.
He was the joint top scorer in Ligue 1 with 21 goals and was named both Ligue 1 and Champions League Player of the Year. He also helped PSG reach the Club World Cup final, where they lost to Chelsea in New Jersey.
Dembélé, who beat Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal to the award, attended the ceremony in Paris—and was in tears as he stood on stage—despite PSG playing a match on Monday evening.
The forward is currently sidelined with an injury and missed PSG’s 1–0 home defeat to Marseille, a game rescheduled due to a storm.
It caps off a sensational career revival for a player who had not reached double figures in a league campaign since his teenage years at Rennes.
PSG manager Luis Enrique—who was named Coach of the Year—deserves huge credit for Dembélé’s success, thanks to a tactical switch in mid-December.
He moved Dembélé from a wide right position to centre-forward in a match against Lyon on 15 December. At that point, Dembélé had scored only five goals. He went on to score 30 more for PSG from that date onwards.
Dembélé has finally shown the quality that convinced Barcelona to pay an initial £96.8 million—potentially rising to £135.5 million—to sign him from Borussia Dortmund in 2017.
However, it was PSG—who dominated the 2025 Ballon d’Or awards—who got the real bargain, signing the striker for just £43.5 million in 2023. He also scored twice in seven appearances for France in the 2024–25 season.
He becomes the sixth Frenchman to win the award and only the second in the 21st century, after Karim Benzema in 2022.
Lamine Yamal, 18, finished second and also won the Kopa Trophy for best young player. PSG and Portugal midfielder Vitinha came third, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah was fourth, and Chelsea and England’s Cole Palmer finished eighth.
