Ballon d’Or 2025 Ceremony HIGHLIGHTS: Ousmane Dembele wins 2025 Ballon d’Or

He thanks everyone who helped him get to this point in life, including his mother who is there in the audience. Scott asks her to join her son on the stage after Dembele is done. Remember, this was a player whose career had seemingly stalled at Barcelona between 2017 and 2023 due to injuries, having joined the Catalan giants from Borussia Dortmund for a record transfer fee. Awards like the Ballon d'Or was exactly what he was projected to win when he was setting the pitch on fire as a youngster at Dortmund. Well, here he is now.

"Dembele" is all Ronaldinho says into the mic after a short dramatic pause. Ousmane Dembele powered PSG to the Champions League title last season, and he has now won the Ballon d'Or.

Well, the rankings have been announced from 10th through to 3rd. It is Vitinha who has taken third place, Yamal and Dembele are in the top two. All that remains, is to see who takes the golden ball.

He had won it in 2005 and Kate Scott calls him to the stage to present the 2025 edition. He is greeted by her and Gullit, himself a former winner in 1987.

She does make it a hat-trick. Barcelona and Spanish great Aitana Bonmati has won the 2025 Ballon d’Or! She had reached the final of the Euros and Champions League last season with Spain and Barcelona. She joins Lionel Messi and Michelle Platini as the only players to have won the trophy thrice in a row.

She does make it a hat-trick. Barcelona and Spanish great Aitana Bonmati has won the 2025 Ballon d'Or!

All right the dance act ends and the hosts call Barcelona and Spain legend Andres Iniesta to the stage to hand out the women's Ballon d'Or. Iniesta's fellow Spanish legend Aitana Bonmati had won it the last two years in a row and she is in contention today. Will she make it a hat-trick. Well Gullit says that the award will be announced on the other side of a commercial break. Aaarghhh!!

All right, we are coming to the end of the night, which means its time to distribute the awards after which this ceremony is named. Some kind of a dance act follows Gullit and Scott announcing it though.

An award given for supporting humanitarian causes, this year it goes to the PSG's boss's Xana foundation, which is dedicated to providing comprehensive support to children and young people with life-threatening illnesses. The foundation was launched by Enrique following the death of his daughter Xana aged nine in 2019 after a battle with a rare form of bone cancer. The PSG fans' touching tribute to Xana after they won the Champions League made the moment much bigger than just a football event.

This is probably the least surprising award win of the night. PSG have as many as nine players in the final 30-man Ballon d'Or list.

Arsenal beat Barcelona in the final to win the Women's Champions League.

The trophy is handed out to the top goalscorer across club and international football. Gyokeres has won it as a Sporting Lisbon player, although he is playing for Arsenal this season. Barcelona's Ewa Pajor takes the women's trophy.

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— Ballon d'Or (@ballondor) September 22, 2025

The award is given to the best goalkeeper of the year and this is the first time that a women's award is being given out. England and Chelsea's Hampton says that this is a victory for female goalkeepers and pays tribute to all of those who came before her. She also makes a touching mention of Matt Beard, the former coach who was active mostly in women's football and died on Saturday. This is the second time that Donnarumma has won it, having taken it in 2021.

Luis Enrique pretty much changed Paris St Germain's identity last season to power them to the Champions League trophy that they have been chasing for more than a decade. He is not there to receive the award, though. In fact, he is not really having a great time of it, with his PSG side currently losing 1-0 to Marseille in a French league match with about 20-odd minutes to go.

The Dutch manager led England to the Euro title in 2025, thus helping them defend the trophy which she had led them to in 2022 as well.

Both the men's and women's Kopa Trophies have gone to Barcelona players this year. 19-year-old Vicky Lopez has won the women's best player pf the year award.

This is the second consecutive year in which Yamal has won this trophy, which is handed to the Best Young Player of the year. Utterly incredible that he has been nominated for this and the Ballon d'Or in the same year.

As stated earlier, rankings for 30th through to 11th has already been announced. Here are the names that are left:

Ousmane Dembele (PSG, France)

Lamine Yamal (Barcelona, Spain)

Raphinha (Barcelona, Brazil)

Vitinha (PSG, Portugal)

Achraf Hakimi (PSG, Morocco)

Cole Palmer (Chelsea, England)

Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid, France)

Nuno Mendes (PSG, Portugal)

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt)

Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG, Italy)

Donnarumma recently transfered to Manchester City but he has been nominated as a PSG player.

Right Charlotte Cardin gets us underway and the hosts take the stage after she exits. The hosts in question are AC Milan and Netherlands great Ruud Gullit and British sports broadcaster Kate Scott.

No, the winners haven't been announced yet. But the awards themselves are here. Meanwhile, the ceremony has started with a performance from Canadian singer Charlotte Cardin.

The women's Ballon d'Or list for those ranked from 30th through to 11th has also been released. Here is how they are placed.

11. Claudia Pina (Barcelona, Spain)

12. Marta (Orlando Pride. Brazil)

13. Caroline Graham Hansen (Barcelona, Norway)

14. Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride, Zambia)

15. Sandy Baltimore (Chelsea, France)

16. Cristiana Girelli (Juventus, Italy)

17. Temwa Chawinga (Kansas City, Malawi)

18. Melchie Dumornay (Lyon, Haiti)

19. Klara Buhl (Bayern Munich, Germany)

20. Pernille Harder (Bayern Munich, Denmark)

21. Amanda Gutierres (Palmeiras, Brazil)

22. Esther Gonzalez (Gotham FC, Spain)

23. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (Chelsea, Sweden)

24. Sofia Cantore (Juventus/Washington Spirit, Italy)

25. Emily Fox (Arsenal, USA)

26. Lindsey Horan Heaps (Lyon, USA)

27. Clara Mateo (Paris FC, France)

27. Frida Leonhardsen Maanum (Arsenal, Norway)

29. Steph Catley (Arsenal, Australia)

30. Caroline Weir (Real Madrid, Scotland)

French winger Ousmane Dembele follows his fellow main contender Yamal onto the red carpet. Yamal is shining for Barcelona, Dembele had struggled at the club but at PSG, he has finally lived up to the potential he showed as a youngster at Dortmund. His efforts were instrumental in PSG winning the Champions League last season.

Lamine Yamal had come with the Barcelona contingent and with him, came his folks. The 18-year-old could become the youngest ever to have won this award if he ends up holding the golden ball. Who holds the current record? Ronaldo of Brazil, who had won it aged 21.

Real Madrid had stayed away from the Ballon d'Or ceremony last year after Vinicius jr lost out to Manchester City and Spain's Rodri. They are not here this year either although that could be more due to scheduling than anything else: Real face Levante away in the La Liga on Tuesday. Vinicius has finished 16th while Bellingham is 23rd. This leaves Kylian Mbappe somewhere in the top 10.

Some of the hottest contenders for the award are from the Catalan giants. Two of their players, Pedri (ranked 11th) and Robert Lewandowski are already in the rankings.

All right, the initial rankings have been announced, and these are the players who are placed 30th through to 11th. Here's your lot:

11. Pedri (Barcelona, Spain)

12. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli/Paris St-Germain, Georgia)

13. Harry Kane (Bayern Munich, England)

14. Desire Doue (Paris St-Germain, France)

15. Viktor Gyokeres (Sporting/Arsenal, Sweden)

16. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid, Brazil)

17. Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona, Poland)

18. Scott McTominay (Napoli, Scotland)

19. Joao Neves (Paris St-Germain, Portugal)

20. Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan, Argentina)

21. Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund, Guinea)

22. Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool, Argentina)

23. Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid, England)

24. Fabian Ruiz (Paris St-Germain, Spain)

25. Denzel Dumfries (Inter Milan, Netherlands)

26. Erling Haaland (Man City, Norway)

27. Declan Rice (Arsenal, England)

28. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, Netherlands)

29. Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen/Liverpool, Germany)

30. Michael Olise (Bayern Munich, France)

Well it's not just the men's and women's Ballon d'Or that'll be distributed in Paris tonight. Here is a full list of awards that'll be distributed today:

The stars are descending upon Paris's THÉÂTRE DU CHÂTELET as the ceremony for arguably the most prestigious individual award in the world of football. Will it be Lamine Yamal or Ousmane Dembele? Could Raphinha or Mohamed Salah have a say? Will Chloe Kelly cap off a dream season with a Ballon d'Or win? We will find the answers soon...