Paris Saint-Germain’s French international forward Ousmane Dembele has been named the men’s Ballon d’Or winner for 2025, with Barcelona’s Spanish international Aitana Bonmati claiming the women’s title for the third consecutive year.
According to The Guardian, the pair were awarded the trophies, recognised as the most prestigious individual prizes in football, at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France, on Monday.
Dembele helped PSG to its first Champions League title in May, and saw off strong competition from Barcelona starlet Lamine Yamal, who helped the Spanish club to the La Liga title year, immediately off the back of his starring role for Spain in their Euro 2025 triumph.
There was better news for fellow Barca forward Bonmati, however, as she became the third person, behind former French international Michel Platini and Argentina legend Lionel Messi, to claim a hat-trick of titles.
Dembele succeeded Manchester City midfielder Rodri to become the sixth Frenchman to win it after Raymond Kopa, Platini, Jean-Pierre Papin, Zinedine Zidane and Karim Benzema.
Bonmati won ahead of her Spain teammate Mariona Caldentey.
The award capped a remarkable turn of fortune for Dembele, who at one point last season was snubbed by PSG coach Luis Enrique for disciplinary reasons.
But once repositioned as a No 9, he became a scoring machine and was inspirational in PSG’s historic Champions League campaign. The French club also completed a quadruple last season.
