Ballon d'Or 2025 winner crowned as Mo Salah and Lamine Yamal snubbed

Paris Saint-Germain forward Ousmane Dembele has won the Ballon d'Or for 2025. Dembele, 28, was confirmed as the winner at a lavish awards ceremory in Paris tonight (Monday).

Barcelona teen sensationLamine Yamal finished second, with Dembele's PSG teammate Vitinha in third. Dembele recorded an incredible 51 goal involvements in 59 matches in the 2024/25 season, earning him the titles of Ligue 1 Player of the Season, Ligue 1 Golden Boot and Champions League Player of the Season. He helped PSG win the Champions League, Ligue 1 title, Coupe de France and the French Super Cup in their historic quadruple-winning campaign.

He saw off competition from Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal - who scooped up the Kopa trophy for best young player in the world earlier in the evening - who was second in the event. For Dembele, it marks the end of an extraordinary turnaround in his career.

In the summer of 2017, Dembele, after enjoying a promising campaign with Borussia Dortmund contributing six goals and 12 assists, was signed by the Catalans for a breathtaking £135.5m when he was only 20 years old. At the time, it almost went under the radar as PSG bought Neymar from a record breaking £200m.

Tasked with effectively replacing the Brazilian wizard, Dembele was always going to find life at the Nou Camp difficult. Things were made even harder when he suffered around 14 muscular injuries, causing him to miss 799 days due to injuries and 141 matches for club and country.

There were frequent criticisms about his professionalism away from the pitch, which resulted in the LaLiga powerhouses reportedly hiring chefs to help him maintain a diet fit for one of the world's best players. With Barcelona suffering from financial difficulties, PSG signed him in a deal worth £43.5m.

He arrived when Kylian Mbappe was still in situ captaining the Parisians and being their main star. As the Frenchman departed for Real Madrid a year later, Dembele was moved into a central position and was entrusted by Luis Enrique to lead the press, which proved to be one of their most powerful weapons in their victorious Champions League campaign.

His many painful moments, which also include conceding the penalty for Argentina's first goal in France's World Cup final loss in 2022, all culminated in his emotional triumph.

Dembele struggled to hold back the tears as he collected the award. He thanked his former team-mates, coaches and colleagues at Rennes, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona and PSG before. He also became emotional when he spoke about his mother, who was sat in the crowd in the French capital.

He was close to missing the ceremony in its entirety as PSG's away clash against Marseille was re-arranged to this evening. However, Dembele is still recovering from an injury he suffered during France's recent clash against Ukraine in the international break.

Meanwhile, his side were defeated 1-0 at the Stade Velodrome. A goal from ex-West Ham United star Nayef Aguerd was enough to secure a surprise win over the Champions League holders.