Ousmane Dembele couldn’t hold back his emotions as he thanked his family after winning the 2025 Ballon d’Or. His story is one of resilience. A star boy who threatened to end in failure, surrounded by injury struggles and a Barcelona move which simply never clicked. But ultimately a player who now sits atop football’s throne after undergoing his very own remontada at Paris Saint-Germain.
For all the opinions about those who missed out on the award, it should not take away from the Frenchman’s own story. No one could have foreseen the genius of Luis Enrique’s new false nine other than the PSG boss himself. Dembele became reborn. A player who simply did not score enough became a player who could not stop doing so.
By the time the final whistle sounded in PSG’s 5-0 thrashing of Inter Milan in the Champions League final, Dembele had scored 35 goals and assisted another 16 in all competitions, with seven of those contributions coming in the knockout stage of Europe’s elite competition. There aren’t many who enjoyed a better season than the former Barcelona man. France Football believes that not a single player did, in fact.
Lamine Yamal was forced to settle for second place. He’s the star boy that Dembele was and so much more, but he’s been forced to wait before his potential era of dominance commences. Vitinha, meanwhile, surprised many by placing third. The classy midfielder played a key role alongside Dembele in PSG’s treble last season and has earned his place among the world’s best from Wolverhampton Wanderers failure years prior.
And then there’s Mohamed Salah in fourth. Yes, fourth. The Egyptian, who missed out on nomination altogether last season, failed to even make the podium following a year that many believe was worthy of winning the award itself.
Why Salah was robbed of the Ballon d'Or
There aren’t many players who enjoyed a better season than Dembele, as mentioned, but Salah did. The Egyptian created history in the Premier League with more goal involvements than any other player in the history of a 38-game season and even matched the record set by Alan Shearer, who needed 42 games. Simply put, he was unstoppable.
Appearances
52
53
Goals
34
35
Assists
23
16
The Ballon d’Or’s social media revealed the criteria for winning the award before the ceremony, stating that individual performances, decisive and impressive character, team performances and achievements, class and fair play would decide the rankings.
“We’re talking Ballon d’Or’s now. If we’re not talking Ballon d’Or’s for Mohamed Salah now, then it’s getting out of hand.” – Daniel Sturridge, February 2025
Based on the above metrics, it feels absurd that Salah finished outside the top three. The only player close to matching him was indeed Dembele, who deserved to be neck and neck with the Egyptian, not miles beyond him.
Where Salah lost Ballon d'Or votes
Ultimately, Salah will look back on Liverpool vs PSG as the turning point for the Ballon d’Or. Once again, rightly or wrongly, the Champions League took precedence over anything else in the minds of France Football. One penalty shootout between two of the world’s best, who just happened to meet in the last 16, arguably played a large part in Dembele’s eventual victory and Salah’s snub.
That’s where the award is slightly flawed. It’s human nature to lean towards recency, but those voting for the Ballon d’Or winner simply must consider the season as a whole rather than the final months before the ceremony. Salah was strolling towards his throne in the first-half of the campaign, having recorded 30 goal involvements in the Premier League by the time that January arrived.
Dembele, meanwhile, was yet to get going. The forward had recorded 13 league goal involvements and had found the back of the net just eight times. It was far from Ballon d’Or-worthy. We now know, of course, that Enrique’s genius soon played a part and the Frenchman’s best was unlocked, but it was Salah who looked on course for the famous award.
By no means did the Liverpool man bring his form to a sudden halt, either – adding 17 more goal involvements to his name before the Premier League campaign came to an end. Alas, somewhere along the way, the glimmer of PSG’s Champions League trophy blinded France Football to the history that Salah had created.
For now, Liverpool’s Egyptian King is forced to wait for his crowing moment on football’s biggest stage. Whether his time will come at all is now the big question. If that does not arrive, then Salah will no doubt join the likes of Andres Iniesta and Thierry Henry as one of the greatest players to somehow miss out on the award.