An emotional Ousmane Dembele won the Ballon d'Or for the first time in his career after leading Paris Saint-Germain to Champions League glory last year.
The former Borussia Dortmund man becomes the fifth French player to win the esteemed award, and the first in 27 years since Zinedine Zidane's triumph in 1998.
The 28-year-old, who joined the Parisians from Barcelona in a £43.5million deal in 2023, scored 35 goals last campaign as the French side stormed to a remarkable quintuple.
The victory signifies Dembele's remarkable return to form after the Blaugrana spent an initial £97m back in 2017 to prise him away from Dortmund.
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The winger never truly locked down a spot at the Camp Nou, suffering from bad injuries and often not being selected.
He has been a revelation since his move to the French capital, however. In his first season, Dembele contributed 20 goals and assists, in his second this grew to 51.
Ousmane Dembele has won the Ballon d'Or for the first time in his career after leading Paris Saint-Germain to Champions League glory last year
|REUTERS
And the Frenchman was emotional during his acceptance speech, demonstrating just how far he has come in a short period of time, with the roaring success at club level last season.
PSG won Ligue 1, the Champions League, French Cup, French Super Cup and UEFA Super Cup in a historic season.
Ousmane Dembele becomes the fifth French player to win the esteemed award
|REUTERS
Their success on the pitch was fairly represented at the Ballon d'Or ceremony: boss Luis Enrique picked up the Johan Cruyff Men's Coach of the Year award, while former team-mate Gianluigi Donnarumma, who left the Parisians to join Pep Guardiola's Manchester City this summer, won the Yashin Best Goalkeeper of the Year.
The club also won the Best Team of the Year award.
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Gianluigi Donnarumma and Hannah Hampton won the men's and women's Yashin Trophy, recognising them as the best goalkeepers in football
|REUTERS
On the night, PSG, while supreme at the ceremony, were not so much on the pitch. Many players were missing from the event as they played and lost 1-0 at the hands of Marseille.
The match against Roberto De Zerbi's side was postponed to Monday night due to severe weather conditions.
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Nuno Mendes, Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi and Vitinha all joined Dembele in the top 10 players from PSG this year.
Cole Palmer represented England's best in at eighth, behind Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe. Madrid did not attend the event in their continued boycott after last year's dismissal of Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior.
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Bravo Ousmane ! 🇫🇷#ballondor pic.twitter.com/7TA1oSpjub
— Ballon d'Or (@ballondor) September 22, 2025
Former Leeds star Raphinha made the top five, along with Liverpool's Mohamed Salah.
Dembele pipped 18-year-old Lamine Yamal to the Ballon d'Or, with the Barcelona star picking up the Kopa Trophy, the best young player, for the second consecutive year - an unprecedented feat.
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The Women's Kopa Trophy stayed in Catalonia , too, with 19-year-old Barcelona forward Vicky Lopez taking home the accolade.
Elsewhere, English star Hannah Hampton won the Women's Yashin Trophy, with Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman awarded the Johan Cruyff Women's Manager of the Year.
Arsenal continued England's success in the women's football awards by winning Club of the Year following their historic Champions League triumph.
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