Ousmane Dembele wins Ballon d'Or: Paris St-Germain forward wins award

Paris St-Germain's Ousmane Dembele won his first Ballon d'Or as the French treble winners came away with several of the key men's awards at the Paris ceremony.

The 28-year-old France forward scored 35 goals and made 14 assists in 53 matches for PSG last season as they won the Champions League, league title and the French Cup.

He was the joint top scorer in Ligue 1, with 21 goals, and named the French top flight and Champions League player of the year.

And he also helped PSG to the Club World Cup final where they lost to Chelsea in New Jersey.

Dembele, who beat Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal to the award, was able to attend the ceremony in Paris - and was in tears as he stood on the stage - despite the fact his team were playing on Monday evening.

The forward is currently sidelined through injury, meaning he missed PSG's 1-0 home defeat by Marseille in a game which was rearranged because of a storm.

It caps off a sensational career revival for a player who had not scored double figures in a league campaign season since he was a teenager at Rennes.

PSG manager Luis Enrique – who was named coach of the year - deserves huge credit for Dembele's award because of a tactical switch in mid-December.

He moved Dembele from a wide right to centre-forward role against Lyon on 15 December, by which stage he had only scored five goals.

He hit 30 goals for PSG from that date onwards.

Dembele has finally shown the quality that persuaded Barcelona to pay an initial £96.8m, potentially rising to £135.5m, to sign him from Borussia Dortmund in 2017.

However PSG - who were named team of the year at the 2025 Ballon d'Or awards - were the team who got the bargain by recruiting him for just £43.5m in 2023.

Dembele also scored twice in seven caps for France in 2024-25.

He is the sixth Frenchman to win the award and only the second of the 21st century after Karim Benzema in 2022.

Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres won the Gerd Muller Trophy, which is awarded to the top scoring player in 2024-25 in European football for club and country.

The 27-year-old scored 54 goals in 52 games for Portuguese club Sporting last season – and nine goals in six Nations League games for Sweden.

He joined Arsenal in a deal worth up to £64m in the summer.

The exact criteria for the award is not known, meaning the winner was uncertain before the ceremony even though it is factually based.

Last season's was shared between Bayern Munich's Harry Kane and Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe (although for his time at PSG) – with 52 goals each.

The previous winners for the award which was launched in 2021 were Robert Lewandowski, twice, and Erling Haaland.

Lamine Yamal may have been disappointed not to win the Ballon d'Or, with rumours emerging hours before the event that he had won it.

But the Barcelona star did receive the Kopa Trophy, for the best player under the age of 21, for the second consecutive year.

The teenager is the first player to win it twice, although it was only created in 2018.

He helped Spain to win the domestic double last season of La Liga and the Copa del Rey.

The winger scored 18 goals – including netting in three different Clasicos - and made 21 assists in 55 games.

And he also helped Spain to the Nations League final, where they lost on penalties to Portugal, after scoring twice in a memorable 5-4 semi-final win over Dembele's France.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, now at Manchester City, won the award for the best goalkeeper in 2024-25 for his performances at Paris St-Germain.

The 26-year-old kept 17 clean sheets in 47 games for the treble winners - before joining City for £26m on deadline day.

He finished ninth in the overall Ballon d'Or list.

Liverpool's Alisson Becker finished second for the keeper award.

Donnarumma also won the award in 2021 after being named player of the tournament at Euro 2020.

Aston Villa and Argentina's Emiliano Martinez had won the award for the past two years – but finished eighth this time.

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