The best men’s and women’s soccer players of the year have been announced.
France Football magazine’s 2025 Ballon d’Or winners were unveiled as Paris Saint Germain’s Ousmane Dembele on the men’s side and Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati on the women’s.
Dembele, 28 and French, was viewed as the favorite after a record season in which he played a starring role in PSG’s Ligue 1 win and first ever Champions League title, among more domestic trophies.
He recorded a career-best 21 league goals last season with six assists, on top of eight goals and six assists in the Champions League playing primarily as the false 9 in Luis Enrique’s 4-3-3 system.
Dembele’s turnaround from a wonderkid at Rennes and Borussia Dortmund to possibly failing to live up to the hype at Barcelona as injuries mounted caps off a movie-esque storyline for the Frenchman, though expectations will only grow now.
Coming in second was Barcelona’s rising 18-year-old Spanish star Lamine Yamal, who logged nine assists and 13 goals in La Liga with five goals and three assists in the Champions League. Yamal also won the Kopa Trophy for the second straight season, which is awarded to the world’s best young player.
Yamal was a key force in Barcelona’s domestic double with the league title and Copa Del Rey, while also winning the Euros with Spain last July. Barcelona reached the Champions League semifinals but lost to Italian side Inter in a high-scoring affair that further bolstered Yamal’s stock in the soccer world.
In third was Dembele’s Portuguese PSG teammate Vitinha, who typically dominated opposing midfields with elite tiki-taka play, dribbling and providing key moments in the final third.
On the women’s side, the top two finalists came down to Barcelona’s Bonmati and Arsenal’s Mariona Caldentey. Fellow Arsenal forward Alessia Russo of England rounded out the top three.
Bonmati claimed the award for the third straight time. The attacking midfielder scored 12 goals and six assists in the league last season with three goals in 11 Champions League appearances. She is the third player alongside Lionel Messi (2009-12) and Michel Platini (1983-85) to win three straight Ballon d’Ors.
Caldentey scored nine goals and recorded five assists in 21 league games for Arsenal, with eight goals in 15 Champions League games. Caldentey and Arsenal won the Women’s Champions League over Bonmati’s Barcelona, while Russo had also played a crucial role in England’s win over Bonmati’s Spain in the Women’s Euros.
Arsenal won the Women’s Club of the Year at the event, while PSG claimed the Men’s Club of the Year.
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