Ousmane Dembele wins ‘incredible’ Ballon d’Or for first time ahead of Lamine Yamal – ‘It’s for all of us’

“I don’t have many words. Look, it’s not easy. It is one of the best things I have accomplished in my career,” Dembele said on stage.

“Winning this trophy from Ronaldinho (who presented it), a legend of football, is amazing.

“To all the team and the club, it’s really an incredible family. You have been amazing since the first day. The president, since the first contact, he has been exceptional with me.

“I want to also thank all the staff at PSG, my coach Luis Enrique has been amazing with me and has been the most important of my career.

“My team-mates have been amazing in 2024 and 2025, they have been with me in the bad moments. It is not an individual trophy, it is for us all to win this.”

Dembele was the creative and attacking fulcrum of his side’s spectacular season, scoring 35 goals and providing 14 assists in his 53 appearances across all competitions.

The 28-year-old former Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona winger finished as Ligue 1 joint-top scorer alongside Mason Greenwood of Marseille with 21 goals, earning a place in the team of the season and winning the league’s player of the year award.

But he earned wider acclaim for his form in Europe, where he scored eight goals, including a hat-trick against Stuttgart and crucial strikes against Liverpool and Arsenal in the last 16 and semi-finals respectively.

Dembele’s intense pressing in the Champions League final was a memorable hallmark of a remarkable 5-0 victory over Italian side Internazionale, and the forward set up two of his side’s goals in that Munich masterclass.

Those performances saw him win the Champions League player of the season award, while he was also named in the team of the season alongside six of his PSG team-mates.

“Thank you to all the clubs I’ve played for: Stade Rennes, Borussia Dortmund, and the club I always dreamed of playing for, Barcelona,” Dembele said.

“I learned so much there, playing alongside players like (Lionel) Messi and (Andres) Iniesta. It was a great learning experience. I am so happy.

“When I see the list of legends who have won this award…I worked hard for the team to win the Champions League, Ligue 1… to win this trophy is incredible. I am very happy.”

Barcelona superstar Yamal was widely touted to be Dembele’s closest rival for the award and so it transpired, with the Spain international coming second.

Dembele’s PSG team-mate Vitinha finished third, while Mohamed Salah of Liverpool and Barcelona’s Raphinha completed the top five.

Dembele succeeds Manchester City midfielder Rodri in claiming the sport’s most illustrious individual award, after the Spaniard’s success in 2024.

He becomes the sixth French winner of the award, making France the country with the record number of different players to claim it, ahead of Germany and Italy on five.

France has also now equalled Argentina as the country with the most overall wins on eight, although Lionel Messi won all eight of those for the South American country.

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo shared 13 of the 15 Ballon d’Or awards between 2008 and 2023, their dominance only broken by Luka Modric in 2018 and Karim Benzema in 2022. The Ballon d’Or was not awarded in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.