The 30 nominees for the 2025 Ballon d’Or have now been announced and we’ve ranked all of them by their average match rating from 2024-25.
To do this, we’ve used the WhoScored algorithm and have taken into consideration all competitions throughout the 2024-25 campaign.
When using this methodology, new Arsenal signing Viktor Gyokeres was technically the best player in the world last season.
Of course, as Liga Portugal isn’t considered a top-five league, his numbers do need to be taken with a pinch of salt, but they’re still mightily impressive.
Across all competitions for club and county, he scored 63 goals and produced 17 assists in 58 games, averaging a match rating of 8.01.
Of the players who were playing in a top-five league last season, Lamine Yamal had the highest average match rating at 7.91.
In 62 games for club and country, Yamal produced an impressive 47 goal contributions and won three trophies, including La Liga.
Based on these ratings, Yamal’s Barcelona teammate, Raphinha, has been the third-best player in the world, boasting an average rating of 7.69.
The Brazilian was particularly influential during Barcelona’s Champions League campaign, producing 21 goal contributions in 14 European appearances.
Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise is fourth on the list following his impressive debut season in Germany with an average rating of 7.57.
What caught our eye was the fact that Kylian Mbappe has a higher rating than Ousmane Dembele, Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane.
While Real Madrid missed out on every major trophy during 2024-25, Mbappe himself had a debut season to remember in Spain.
He broke Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of scoring the most goals ever for Real Madrid in a debut season, bagging 44 goals for himself across all competitions.
His international teammate, Dembele, has an average rating of 7.53, which is a mere 0.01 lower than Mbappe’s.
For many, the PSG superstar is the favourite to take home the Ballon d’Or this year, thanks to his role in Luis Enrique’s side winning the treble.
Dembele is actually joint fourth on our list with Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane, who also boasts an impressive 7.53 rating.
The England skipper had another prolific season in Germany, scoring 41 goals across all competitions and winning his first-ever piece of silverware in the process.
You may have noticed that we’ve got this far into the article without mentioning Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and that’s because he’s all the way down in eighth on our list – joint with Erling Haaland.
The Egyptian forward had a sensational Premier League campaign last season, but his average rating in the Champions League and League Cup drags his overall rating down quite considerably.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Fabian Ruiz, Denzel Dumfries and Scott McTominay had the lowest match ratings of those who were nominated.
Here’s the full breakdown of every 2025 Ballon d’Or nominee and their averaged WhoScored rating from 2024-25.
30. Gianluigi Donnarumma – 6.78
29. Fabian Ruiz – 6.92
28. Denzel Dumfries – 6.99
27. Scott McTominay – 7.07
=24. Alexis Mac Allister – 7.08
= 24. Joao Neves – 7.08
= 24. Vitinha – 7.08
23. Virgil van Dijk – 7.10
22. Pedri – 7.11
21. Lautaro Martinez – 7.15
20. Declan Rice – 7.17
=18. Robert Lewandowski – 7.21
= 18. Desire DOUE – 7.21
17. Nuno Mendes – 7.23
=15. Cole Palmer – 7.27
= 15. Vinicius Junior – 7.27
14. Achraf Hakimi – 7.32
13. Khvicha kvaratskhelia – 7.33
12. Serhou Guirassy – 7.35
11. Jude Bellingham – 7.37
10. Florian Wirtz – 7.45
= 8. Erling Haaland – 7.47
= 8. Mohamed Salah – 7.47
=6. Harry Kane – 7.53
=6. Ousmane Dembele – 7.53
5. Kylian Mbappe – 7.54
4. Michael Olise – 7.57
3. Raphinha – 7.69
2. Lamine Yamal – 7.91
1. Viktor Gyokeres – 8.01
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