Ballon d’Or 2025 LIVE: Latest updates and results as Ousmane Dembele battles Lamine Yamal

PSG star leading race for world football’s biggest individual prize, but Barcelona rival has strong case of his own

Top prize: The Ballon d’Or is the most prestigious individual award on offer anywhere in world football

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Alex Dakers

11 minutes ago

Ballon d’Or 2025 LIVE!

Football’s most prestigious individual honour will be awarded tonight as the Ballon d’Or winner for 2025 is crowned in Paris. All eyes will fall upon the iconic Theatre du Chatelet for one of the biggest and glitziest nights on the game’s annual calendar, where Ousmane Dembele is the clear favourite to scoop the top prize after his starring role in Paris Saint-Germain’s historic quadruple success last season that included finally ending their long wait for Champions League glory.

Many other PSG stars are on the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or this year, plus a range of other awards, though the majority will not be in attendance after their Ligue 1 clash with rivals Marseille was postponed over the weekend due to severe weather conditions and rescheduled for tonight. Dembele, however, is not in Luis Enrique’s squad for the match due to injury.

Lamine Yamal is considered as the biggest threat to Dembele’s chances after his stunning exploits with Barcelona and Spain, with the likes of Vitinha and Raphinha also having strong cases. The Premier League contingent is led by Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and Chelsea talisman Cole Palmer. Follow the latest Ballon d’Or updates and results live below!

Ballon d'Or 2025 latest news

56 seconds ago

Not long to go...

Well, less than four hours to go until the ceremony officially begins!

5 minutes ago

Dembele to make history

Could Ousmane Dembele be about to join this illustrious list?

11 minutes ago

The best players to never win a Ballon d'Or

Given only one of these awards is handed out every year, it’s inevitable that some top players miss out.

But if you’re a world class talent, can you go your entire career without picking up a Ballon d’Or?

Definitely.

Just ask Thierry Henry, Andres Iniesta, Neymar, Dennis Bergkamp, David Beckham, Neymar, Xavi, Frank Lampard, Franck Ribery, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard... the list goes on, for much longer than I’d have room to write here. That’s only accounting for the last few decades!

The likes of Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane, Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski are still currently playing at a high enough level to possibly win one at some point, but they too have yet to be awarded this particular trophy.

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14 minutes ago

Legends in the building

Football royalty is in France this evening.

Luis Figo and Andres Iniesta are in attendance for the ceremony.

32 minutes ago

Great Scott! McTominay's deserved recognition

Scott McTominay is among tonight’s Ballon d’Or candidates, making the Napoli star Scotland’s first male nominee for the award since Ally McCoist back in 1987.

The 28-year-old left Manchester United last summer and delivered a Serie A title to Gli Azzurri on his first attempt, earning the Italian league’s Player of the Year award for his troubles.

McTominay bagged 12 league goals from central midfield, many of them in decisive moments, to emerge as an unexpectedly key cog in Antonio Conte’s side. He also registered six Serie A assists.

Beloved as he is in Naples and for his own country, the Scot won’t be expecting to walk away with the Ballon d’Or - which would be Scotland’s second in history, after the great Denis Law (1964) - tonight. Still, his performances last season mean he undoubtedly deserves his nomination.

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Elsewhere for Scotland, Real Madrid midfielder Caroline Weir has this year become the first Scottish woman to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or.

35 minutes ago

How to watch the 2025 Ballon d'Or ceremony - and who is presenting

A reminder that tonight’s ceremony will not be broadcast live on TV in the UK, but will thankfully be streamed for free on L'Équipe's YouTube channel.

The proceedings are due to be presented by star CBS anchor Kate Scott and former Chelsea and Netherlands star - and 1987 Ballon d’Or winner - Ruud Gullit.

It is due to begin at 8pm BST.

You can also stay right here with us for all the latest updates throughout the evening!

51 minutes ago

Goals but lack of trophies in Mbappe's debut Real season

Many football fans might have had Kylian Mbappe as a heavy favourite for this award when he joined Real Madrid last summer, but it hasn’t quite panned out the way - yet.

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The 26-year-old Frenchman was La Liga’s top scorer in his debut season, with 31 goals and three assists in 34 Spanish top-flight games.

However, he couldn’t stop fierce rivals Barcelona from beating Los Blancos to the league title as well as in the finals of both Spanish cup competitions.

Going out of the Champions League - a competition won by former club Paris Saint-Germain - at the quarter-final stage plus a Club World Cup semi-final loss at the hands of PSG meant the only trophies Mbappe won in 2024-25 were the Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Intercontinental Cup.

He’s a generational talent who will almost certainly pick up a Ballon d’Or at some stage if he keeps performing at this level for club and country, but it won’t be this year.

1 hour ago

Who has won the most recent Ballon d'Or awards?

Now for a reminder of the last five Ballon d’Or winners, for both the men’s and women’s awards...

Men’s award:

This year’s frontrunners on the men’s side will be glad that record eight-time winner Lionel Messi’s days of dominating this ceremony look to be over. The same goes for five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo, who together with his Argentine counterpart picked up almost every edition of this award from 2008 until 2023.

Karim Benzema (2022) and Luka Modric (2018) were the sole exceptions in that time, before Manchester City midfielder Rodri took the crown ahead of Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr last year.

2024: Rodri

2023: Lionel Messi

2022: Karim Benzema

2021: Lionel Messi

2019: Lionel Messi

Rodri receives the men’s Ballon d’Or last year

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Women’s award:

The men’s Ballon d’Or has been running since 1956 but the women’s award only began in 2018, when it was won by Ada Hegerberg.

USA’s Megan Rapinoe was the next victor in 2019, with England’s Lucy Bronze in second place. Alexia Putellas of Spain then won back-to-back, beating Beth Mead with her second attempt; that was the last time a Lioness has made the top three - could we see that change tonight?

Since then, fellow Spanish star Aitana Bonmati has also won two straight and will be favoured by some to make it a hattrick in the next few hours. Don’t count out the likes of her compatriot Mariona Caldentey, though, or Bronze and other Lionesses including Alessia Russo.

2024: Aitana Bonmati

2023: Aitana Bonmati

2022: Alexia Putellas

2021: Alexia Putellas

2019: Megan Rapinoe

Bonmati holding last year’s women’s Ballon d’Or

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1 hour ago

Can anyone beat Lamine Yamal to Kopa Trophy 2025?

For a second year in a row, 18-year-old Barcelona sensation Lamine Yamal is expected to take home the men’s Kopa Trophy following another fine season where he played a key role in delivering a domestic treble of LaLiga, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup.

The award - given to the best performing male footballer in the world under the age of 21 - has nine other nominees this year, including Yamal’s Barca and Spain teammate Pau Cubarsi.

Former Bournemouth, now Real Madrid, centre-back Dean Huijsen has also been nominated, as has Porto’s Rodrigo Mora and Ayyoub Bouaddi of Lille.

There are nods for Paris Saint-Germain duo Joao Neves and Desire Doue, as well as Arsenal starlet Myles Lewis-Skelly and Chelsea’s new youngster Estevao Willian, who joined the Blues from Club World Cup quarter-finalists Palmeiras over the summer.

Click here to read more about these nominees!

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1 hour ago

What about Harry Kane?

It would cause a seismic shock Harry Kane walked away with this year’s Ballon d’Or, despite England’s captain and leading goal-scorer winning his first major career trophy in 2024-25.

That was, of course, the Bundesliga title in his second season with Bayern Munich.

The 32-year-old bagged 26 league goals, including three hat-tricks, to finish as the German top-flight’s leading scorer for the second year in a row.

He also registered 10 assists in the league, as well as 11 goals in 13 Champions League appearances, and finished the campaign with an overall minutes per goal contribution rate that was (74.6) just shy of Ousmane’s Dembele’s (71.1) but better than any of the other frontrunners for this year’s award.

However, the Bundesliga was the sole competition Bayern won last season, with Vincent Kompany’s men bowing out of both the Champions League and Club World Cup at the quarter-final stage. Like Salah at Liverpool, that will have hurt his chances.

Kane has gotten off to a blistering start in 2025-26, with 13 goals and three assists from seven games in all competitions - but those stats don’t count towards the 2025 Ballon d’Or.

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