France’s dribble king Ousmane Dembélé from Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain won the balloon d’Or for the first time. Aitana Bonmati won the prestigious award in world football for the third time in a row.
“This is incredible what I can experience”said Dembélé on Monday evening in the Parisian opera and concert hall Théâtre du Châtelet- just a few kilometers west of the PSG Stadium Parc des Princes, right on the shore of the Seine. After a dream season with the storm on the Champions League throne, he accepted the “Holy Grail”, as he had called the trophy in advance. “Thank you PSG for getting me in 2023, this individual trophy is really owed to collective performance.”
It was a home win: a completely deserved. French champion and cup winner, outstanding premier class – more went for the 2018 world champion and former professional from Borussia Dortmund. Dembélé, at the age of 28 at the previous climax of his career, joins an exquisite legend-gallery of French winners, with Raymond Kopa (1958), Michel Platini (1983-85), Jean-Pierre Papin (1991), Zinédine Zidane (1998) and Karim Benzema (2022). .
Curiously, Dembélé could only personally receive his trophy because he was injured. He has a muscle fiber tear in his right thigh – otherwise he should have competed with PSG at Olympique Marseille on Monday evening. His team collected the first defeat of the season (0-1) that evening, which was originally posted by Ligue 1 for a day due to severe weather warnings.
Dembélé wins in front of Wunderkind Yamal
Dembélé follows Rodri (Spain/Manchester City), he left the Spanish Wunderkind Lamine Yamal from FC Barcelona and his club colleague Vitinha (Portugal). Florian Wirtz was the only nominated German field player to land in 29th place. The last German balloon d’Or winner was Matthias Sammer in 1996.
BONMATI for the third time in a row winner of the Ballon d’Or
As in the two previous years, Spain’s star soccer player Aitana Bonmati won and wrote history at the same time: BONMATI is the first footballer who was awarded the Ballon d’Or three times. In women’s football, the prestigious award went to a player of FC Barcelona in a row in the fifth year, and Alexia Putellas (2021 and 2022) had triumphed twice in front of Bonmati.
For goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger (Gotham FC) it was not quite enough despite her brilliant achievements at the European Championship, only the English European champion Hannah Hampton landed in front of her. The Dutchman Sarina Wiegman was honored as the best trainer – who again led England to the title in 2025. As expected, Luis Enrique, who had led PSG to the Champions League title, was honored as the best trainer.