Ballon d’Or 2025: was he giving him an error in Dembele?

The Ballon d’Or ceremony of 2025 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris crowned Ousmane dembélé as the best player in the world. Yet the decision quickly became one of the most debated in recent memory.

At 28, Dembélé played a decisive role in the triumph of the Champions League of Paris Saint-Germain. He finished as a joint marker in the direct elimination phases with four goals, including key strokes against Liverpool and Arsenal. However, critics support him Two of these arrived in a much less competitive match against Brest, decreasing their meaning.

At national level, the French has shone in Ligue 1, although the overwhelming financial domain of PSG has long reduced the competitiveness of the most French flight.

The controversy deepens when comparing with the victory of Dembélé with the careers of legends such as Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Thierry Henry, Paolo Maldini, Robert Lewandowski, Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland all who have never raised the ball.

For many, the prize should honor the “best footballer in the world” rather than the “most precious player in a winning team”. With this measure, the critics claim, the dembélé season, although excellent, was not historically dominant.

Barcelona’s 18 -year -old Lamine Yamal, Yamal, emerged as a strong alternative. His campaign from 2024/25 was amazed: 18 goals, 25 assists in 55 games and a triple domestic with Barça. Basically, he performed in the largest phases, even if Barça was not up to the Champions League semifinals.

Many fans believe that Yamal’s age has worked against him. If he had won, he would have become the first Ballon d’Oor winner of the story.

Reports circulated before the ceremony according to which the representatives of PSG and Dembélé had been pressing heavily for the votes, a growing trend around the prize. These voices only fueled skepticism on the fact that his victory was really based on merit.

In the meantime, in the female category, Atana Bonmatí has ​​claimed its third consecutive ball, despite Barcelona and Spain both lost the endings. His individual genius was sufficient to overcome the lack of trophies, a logic that many believe should have been applied equally to Yamal.

Dembélé’s talent cannot be denied or its impact on PSG’s success. But his victory seems less convincing than Yamal’s individual genius. The result of 2025 underlines a growing perception that the Ballon d’oro is moving away from recognizing pure football excellence and more towards the rewarding narrative, prestige and institutional influence.

Sources: Znews

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