Hidden Gems Ousmane Dembele, Aitana Bonmati win 2025 Ballon d’Or awards : step-by-step analysis of the 2025 Ballon d’Or event, in particular, the victories of Ousmane Dembélé and Aitana Bonmati, as well as some of the most important figures, competitors and background.
Key Facts
- Ballon d’or plans to have another event in 2025, this time in the Théâtre du Chatelet, Paris on 22 September 2025.
- Details It identified the performances of the 2024-25 season.
Ousmane Dembele -Men Ballon d Orleans.
What he achieved in 2024-25:
- He played a decisive role in the campaign of PSG which resulted in their first ever championship in the UEFA.
- On average, he had between 33 and 15 goals and assists in 49 competitions in total.
- It was also his second goal in Ligue 1, making him its joint-top scorer with 21 goals.
- He has also added other personal awards: Ligue 1 Player of the Month, Champions League Player of the Month, etc.
The competition:
- Boltzman is a close winner over Lamine Yamal (Barcelo / Spain) who came in second.
- Third place was reached by Vitinha ( PSG / Portugal).
- Other top performers were Mohamed Salah, Raphinha, Achraf Hakimi, and so on.
Significance:
- In the case of Dembele, it was his inaugural win in Ballon d’Or.
- He is the sixth French player to win the men Ballon d or in its history; the last to do so was Karim Benzema in 2022.
- Not only was his victory a sort of a personal and professional redemption, a year in which he had produced at the top rate.
Aitana Bonmati -Women ballon dor.
What she achieved in 2024-25:
- Playing with Barcelona and Spain, she had another brilliant year though her teams only missed a number of finals. In the case of Barcelona, the Women’s champions league final was lost to Arsenal.
- Nonetheless, her personal performances were still of high quality. A significant factor was her consistency in the play in her club and country teams.
The competition:
- She won the best women honour beating Mariana Caldentey (Spain / Barcelona).
- Other best finishers included Alessia Russo (Arsenal).
Significance:
- This became the third Ballon d’Or Féminin in a row of Bonmati. No woman has done that before.
- It also established her as one of the best players in the world in women football.
Other Awards or other Highlights of the Ceremony.
- Kopa Trophy (youthful player of the month): Lamine Yamal.
- The Kopa Trophy of females: Vicky Lopez.
- Yashin Trophy (best goalkeepers): men was awarded to Gianluigi Donnarumma, Women to Hannah Hampton.
- Gerd Muller Trophy (top scorer): Viktor Gyokeres (male); Ewa major (female)
- Coaches of the Month: PSG coach Luis Enrique (Men) and England coach Sarina Wiegman (Women).
- Men clubs of the year: PSG, Arsenal (women).
The Ballon d’Or awards in Paris in 2025 not only made two worthy winners out of Ousmane Dembélé and Aitana Bonmati in the men’s and women’s category respectively, but also presented an intriguing rank of the best football players in the world during the season 2024-25.
Men Ballon d’Or: Dembélé Takes a PSG Surge.
Ousmane Dembélé won the ballot of men, having brought Paris Saint-Germain, to the first win in the champions league and the domination of the Ligue 1 season. Voters had little selection as the French winger scored 33 goals and 15 assists but the competition was stiff.
The emerging Barcelona teenage star Lamine Yamal came in second to emphasize the start of his rocket rise, and Vitinha, the PSG teammate of Dembélé, came in third because of his brilliance in the midfield.
The ten best were loaded with scoring stars: fourth was Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, fifth Barcelona Raphinha, and sixth, Moroccan real Madrid full-back Achraf Hakimi. At Real Madrid, Kylian Mbappé fell to seventh, right behind the breakout creator of Chelsea Cole Palmer in eighth. The PSG goal keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma who also won the Yashin Trophy placed ninth, and the Portuguese left back Nuno Mendes completed the top ten.
Far down the list Barcelona Pedri ranked 11th and PSG Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ranked 12th, and Bayern striker Harry Kane was right behind them. Others that featured were the arsenal scorer of Sweden Viktor Gyoekres at 15 th, Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid at 16 th and Barcelona legend Robert Lewandowski at 17 th. Even more prolific like Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham were dropped as low as number 20s, and that demonstrates the extent of the depth of the talent pool in 2025.
Women Ballon d’Or: The Historic three-peat of Bonmati.
On the female side, Aitana Bonmati won her third Ballon d’Or, the first time the competition had ever had such winner. Although Barcelona lost to Arsenal in the final of the Women’s Champion leagues, Bonmati with unparalleled midfield possession and the ability to generate artistic work was the obvious candidate among the voters.
Her nearest competitor was compatriot Mariona Caldentey who currently plays at Arsenal and England Alessia Russo taking the number three position after having scored prolifically during the season. Barcelo captain Alexia Putellas was at the number four position, showing that she is still a world-class player and Arsenal winger Chloe Kelly completed the top five list.
The remainder of the top ten was a collaboration between Barca and Arsenal: Patri Guijarro (6th), England captain Leah Williamson (7th), Barcelona striker and Muller Trophy winner Ewa Pajor (8th), Chelsea full-back Lucy Bronze (9th) and Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton (10th). Outside of the elite group, there were internationals such as Claudia Pina, Caroline Graham Hansen, Barbra Banda and Marta, which tally with the fact that talent in the women game was spread across the world.
A Night of Accolades
The Paris gala was also an honour to the next generation. Barcelo’s Lamine Yamal was the winner of the Kopa Trophy as the best young male player and his Barca colleague Vicky Lopez was the winner of the Kopa Trophy in the female category. In his 9th place Ballon d’Or
involving partnership with PSG, Donnarumma won the Yashin Trophy as the best goalkeeper in addition to winning the women equivalent. Viktor Gyokeres and Ewa Pajor were the highest scorers to win Gerd Muller Trophies, and PSG manager Luis Enrique and England coach Sarina Wiegman were the Coaches of the Month.
Other interesting Facts/Voting Information.
- Vote counts / updated vote counts are not publicly available in full at least not to the current reports. Majority of the outlets include only the rank ordering and mention the best competitors.
- The first 10 of each category (men and women) are famous; after position 10 we do not find the names of the candidates much more reported or more described by the number of votes.
- None of the complete public breakdowns by country, jury or regions have been published yet, that is, we do not have, say, how many journalists of each country voted, or the way his or her votes were valued in points.
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