Ousmane Dembele in tears after winning Ballon d'Or as Lamine Yamal misses out

An emotional Ousmane Dembele was named the 2025 Ballon d'Or winner on Monday night, beating Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal to the coveted award at a lavish award ceremony in Paris.

The Paris Saint-Germain attacker, 28, has enjoyed a phenomenal year for the French champions, who won the Champions League for the first time in their history back in May. He registered a staggering 51 goal involvements in 59 matches across the 2024-25 campaign and was duly crowned Ligue 1 Player of the Season, the Ligue 1 Golden Boot winner and Champions League Player of the Season.

PSG clinched the French title, Coupe de France and the French Super Cup in a historic campaign as a result of Dembele's superb form and his triumph in Paris completes a remarkable turnaround for a player who endured plenty of challenges at his previous club, Barcelona.

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A tearful Dembele thanked his mother during a heartfelt acceptance speech before taking home the top personal prize in football. "I am a little stressed to be honest. I have received this award from one of the biggest legends of all time, I can't believe this," he said after being presented with the award by Ronaldinho.

"This is an award thanks to the collective. I want to thank all my teammates.

"I want to thank FC Barcelona, the club of my dreams. I played with Lionel Messi, I want to thank him too, I learned so much from him. To have been able to play with Lionel Messi.. I have learned so much from him.

"I want to thank Deschamps. Let's hope we can win the World Cup too! I want to thank my hometown Eure. Every time I get the chance I go back. The people in my neighbourhood helped me to this moment."

"To my mother, I want to thank you. You have always been there for me, mama. To my family, we have experienced so much together. We have been through it all. We will always be together."

Yamal, 18, was viewed as the other top contender for the award after a stellar season for Barcelona. He chalked up 46 goals in 61 games and was named La Liga Young Player of the Season as the Spanish giants won La Liga ahead of Real Madrid.

The duo were the two top-rated players in the rankings with Dembele's PSG team-mate, Vitinha, in third. Mohamed Salah finished fourth after a stellar season for Liverpool, while Chelsea's Cole Palmer was made the top 10, finishing in eighth.

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