PARIS — Paris Saint-Germain winger Ousmane Dembele won the Ballon d’Or yesterday as a reward for his starring role in the club’s Champions League triumph last season, while Spain’s Aitana Bonmati claimed the women’s prize for the third year in a row.
Dembele, 28, edged out Barcelona sensation Lamine Yamal to succeed Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri, who took the trophy in 2024, as the winner of the most prestigious individual prize in football — an award that for many years had been dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Former Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona forward Dembele, who was part of the France team that won the World Cup in 2018, scored 35 goals in all competitions as PSG claimed a French league and cup double as well as winning the Champions League.
With Dembele converted into a centre-forward following Kylian Mbappe’s departure for Real Madrid, PSG went on to hammer Inter Milan 5-0 in the final in Munich to win the European Cup for the first time in their history.
“I really don’t have the words. It was an incredible season with PSG,” an emotional Dembele said on the stage at the Theatre du Chatelet in central Paris.
He added that his boss Luis Enrique — who won the award for club coach of the year — had been “like a father” to him.
“It is an individual trophy but it was really the collective that won it,” insisted Dembele, who was one of nine members of the triumphant PSG team from last season to be nominated for the prize.
“The Ballon d’Or has not really been an objective for me in my career but I worked hard for the team to win the Champions League.”
The 18-year-old Yamal, who was a teammate of Dembele’s at Barcelona when he first broke through in 2023, did earlier win the Kopa Trophy for the best player aged under 21 — the second year running he has taken that award.
Dembele was at the ceremony to pick up his prize while his PSG teammates were losing 1-0 in a Ligue 1 game in Marseille at the same time — that match had been scheduled for Sunday but was put back 24 hours due to bad weather in the south of France.
