Ballon d’Or 2025 Winner: Ousmane Dembélé

Ousmane Dembélé claimed the 2025 Ballon d’Or after a season of relentless performances for Paris Saint-Germain, ending years of near-misses for French football. The ceremony in Paris on 22 September 2025 crowned Dembélé as the men’s winner and Aitana Bonmati as the women’s champion, with a full list of awards highlighting the state of the game.

Winner (Men’s): Ousmane Dembélé (France, PSG) ·
Runner-up (Men’s): Lamine Yamal ·
Ceremony Date: 22 September 2025 ·
Winner (Women’s): Aitana Bonmati

The six key facts from this year’s awards show clear dominance by French and Spanish talent.

Who won the 2025 Ballon d’Or?

Who won the 2025 Men’s Ballon d’Or?

Ousmane Dembélé claimed the 2025 men’s Ballon d’Or after a standout season for Paris Saint-Germain. The French winger finished top of the voting with 1,380 points, according to UEFA.com (the official results publisher). Lamine Yamal placed second with 1,059 points.

The implication: this victory shifts the narrative away from the debate about defensive players winning—Rodri’s 2024 win was the exception, and Dembélé’s triumph restores an attacker-centric storyline.

Who won the 2025 Women’s Ballon d’Or?

Aitana Bonmati repeated her 2024 success, winning the women’s Ballon d’Or for the second consecutive year. She topped the women’s voting with 506 points, as confirmed by UEFA.com (the awarding body’s platform). Bonmati’s dominance with Barcelona and Spain keeps her at the pinnacle of women’s football.

The implication: two Barcelona-linked players (Bonmati and Yamal) finishing in the top two of their respective categories underscores La Masia’s continued production line of elite talent.

What are the top 5 rankings for the 2025 Ballon d’Or?

Who finished in the top 5 of the 2025 Ballon d’Or?

The official top 5 men’s rankings, published by UEFA.com (the governing body’s media arm), are:

• 1st: Ousmane Dembélé – 1,380 points
• 2nd: Lamine Yamal – 1,059 points
• 3rd: Vitinha – 703 points
• 4th: Mohamed Salah – 657 points
• 5th: Raphinha – 620 points

The pattern: four of the top five play in Ligue 1 or the Premier League, reflecting the concentration of top talent in those leagues.

What this means: the top-five list confirms that the 2025 award valued consistency and team success over headline-grabbing moments.

What is the full list of winners at the 2025 Ballon d’Or ceremony?

Which awards were presented at the 2025 Ballon d’Or?

Beyond the main prizes, the ceremony also honoured coaching and social impact. According to Sky Sports (the UK broadcaster):

• Men’s Ballon d’Or: Ousmane Dembélé
• Women’s Ballon d’Or: Aitana Bonmati
• Best Coach: Sarina Wiegman (England women’s national team)
• Sócrates Award: Xana Foundation (Spain) – for charitable work

The catch: the Sócrates Award recognized a foundation rather than an individual, signalling a shift toward institutional social responsibility.

The pattern: this year’s ceremony balanced individual accolades with recognition of broader contributions to the sport.

How is the Ballon d’Or winner determined?

How are votes cast for the Ballon d’Or?

The winner is selected by an international jury of journalists, one from each of the top 100 FIFA-ranked countries. Each jury member votes for a top 5, with points awarded on a 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 scale – the current system used since 2022, as detailed by Britannica (the encyclopedia publisher).

Who votes for the Ballon d’Or?

Only accredited football journalists from each voting nation participate. The system is designed to balance regional bias, though criticism persists that European leagues get disproportionate coverage. The process is managed by France Football (the award’s founding magazine).

The trade-off: a journalist-centric model produces informed but sometimes Eurocentric results – Dembélé’s win, however, was broadly accepted given his Champions League and domestic contributions.

Who won the 2024 Ballon d’Or?

For context, the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner was Rodri of Manchester City. The Spanish midfielder’s victory was notable for being a defensive player in an era dominated by attackers. Wikipedia (the community encyclopedia) lists Rodri as the first player born in the 1990s to win since Luka Modrić. This historical backdrop makes Dembélé’s 2025 win a return to a more traditional attacker-centric narrative.

The implication: the one-year shift to a defensive midfielder has corrected back to an attacking player, reaffirming the Ballon d’Or’s historical bias toward goalscorers.

2025 Ballon d’Or timeline

The pattern: the timeline shows a single-day concentration of announcements, with the season’s performances already evaluated before the ceremony.

What’s confirmed and what’s unclear

Confirmed facts

• Ousmane Dembélé won the 2025 Men’s Ballon d’Or (UEFA.com).
• Aitana Bonmati won the 2025 Women’s Ballon d’Or (UEFA.com).
• Ceremony held on 22 September 2025 in Paris (Sky Sports).

What’s unclear

• Exact voting point totals for positions 6–10 have not been released in full (UEFA.com).
• The complete list of nominees beyond the top 10 is not published.
• Individual jury ballots from each country are not made public, limiting transparency.

The implication: the lack of full data means the voting body retains control over the narrative, leaving room for future transparency debates.

Voices from the ceremony

Ousmane Dembélé wins 2025 Ballon d’Or – the French winger’s first.

UEFA.com (the official Ballon d’Or publisher)

Dembélé’s victory comes after a season where he scored 28 goals and provided 18 assists across all competitions.

Sports Illustrated (US sports magazine)

Sarina Wiegman lands award for best coach – her third such honour.

Sky Sports (UK sports broadcaster)

Bonmati’s second consecutive win underscores her consistent dominance in women’s football.

UEFA.com (the award’s digital home)

For PSG supporters, the 2025 Ballon d’Or is validation of their club’s ability to develop and retain world-class talent. For critics of the award’s voting system, the clear margin between first and second suggests the jury got it right this time. The decision facing France Football now is whether to publish full breakdowns to satisfy growing calls for transparency – or risk the perception of opacity that has dogged other individual sports awards.

Frequently asked questions