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Can the award remain relevant in the 2020s?

The Ballon D’or 2025 is considered to be underwhelming, but why?

The second ceremony beyond the era of the greatest player and the greatest goalscorer to touch the beautiful game, and opinions on the Ballon D’or are mixed. Social media is rife with cries of its ‘downfall’ and there are more questions than ever about what really justifies the best player in the world. How do we move on from Messi and Ronaldo? And in a world without them, how do we choose the best player in the world?

Moving on from Messi and Ronaldo

Before these two, it was usually simple to tell who was best player in the world, most of the awards prior to their dominance were uncontroversial. When you look at the opinions of the time, almost everyone did just believe that Ronaldo Nazario, Platini or Van Basten was truly just the greatest in the world in that year. Then came Messi and Ronaldo, these two won thirteen of the fifteen awards between Ronaldo’s first (2008) and Messi’s last (2023). It was often hard to truly tell who was the better of the two, so as fans we adopted a wholly new criteria to deciding who was the best in the world.

Instead of simply using what we now call the ‘eye test’, football entered an era of statistics, trophies and tiny margins, the Ballon D’or’s scrutiny was was not a cause of this but a symptom. These margins were all that remained to distinguish these greats from each other. One of the important methods was often, who did better in the Champions League? If one of these two won the tournament, as they often did, they won the Ballon D’or as well.

However, is this level of scrutiny truly necessary in a world without them? Are any two players as close in ability and output? If one looks at the years prior to these two, only one player who won the Champions League won the Ballon D’or between 1990 and 2007.

Is it truly necessary to win the Champions League to win the Ballon D’or? In my opinion, no. It is time to move back away from such objective requirements and bring opinion back into the award. The Ballon D’or should not just go to the star player of the winners of the Champions League, but the best and most captivating player in the world, as it did in the past.

Assessing the Candidates of 2025:

The popular top 5 in the Ballon D’or (in any given order) would comprise of:

Mohamed Salah;
Lamine Yamal;
Ousmane Dembele;
Kylian Mbappe;
Raphinha.

5. Kylian Mbappe:

A player entering his prime. He was considered to be one of the best youngsters in the world, and he has not slowed down even deep into his twenties, scoring the most goals of anyone of the five, with 43.

Mbappe has not enjoyed the meteoric start to his Madrid career that was expected, he didn’t win a single major trophy this season, only bringing home medals for the Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. Even though it is not the impact expected, Mbappe still claimed his prize as the top scorer of LaLiga.

When it comes to individual performances, Mbappe’s three hat-tricks cannot be ignored, as the highest among the five. These were not against easy opposition either, with one being against Manchester City and another being against Barcelona. Although there were complaints about his slow start, such complaints are easily addressed by the tactical difficulties experienced by Real Madrid as a whole this season.

However, it is unlikely that he will finish anywhere above 5th, he exited the Champions League in an embarassing goalless display against Arsenal without their best defender in only the Quarter-Finals and did not win a single major trophy.

4. Mo Salah:

The oldest player on this list, he’s not far off twice the age of the youngest. Despite his advancing age, Salah has had perhaps the best season of his career yet.

With 34 goals and 23 assists, Salah comes first place in offensive stats for a total of 1.09 G/A per game. When we look at his cabinet this season, it is potentially among the bottom of the five, having only won the Premier League. Many tout the Premier League to be the hardest league to win in the world, which may give him a boost. He also exited the Champions League the earliest of the five, which could hurt his chances.

As far as individual performances, there aren’t many that stand out, but if anything this just speaks to his ruthless consistency from start to finish. He has had no significant goal droughts this season and he smashed plenty of records related to output on the way.

Despite his amazing season at this age, it is hard to see a world where his lack of an abundance of silverware does not hold him back from claiming the ultimate prize, though it is fair to expect Salah’s highest placing in his career and potentially his first top three.

3. Raphinha:

Raphinha has enjoyed a great ‘comeback’ season in 24/25. There were calls for the Barcelona captain to be sold in 23/24 and he silenced his haters in the best way possible, winning LaLiga player of the year.

When it comes to pure output, he places at the top of the list, with a combined 59 G/A. He was also the (tied) top scorer of the Champions League, despite not making it the furthest of those among this list. He enjoyed 7 G/A in El Clasicos, a testament to his ability to handle pressure and his presence on the big stage.

When talking of individual performances, he scored a hat trick against Bayern Munich, not only a titan of Europe but a club which Barcelona carry much animosity towards after their historic 8- 2 humiliation. He bagged 2 goals and an assist in the Spanish Supercopa against Real Madrid, no less.

It feels unfair to put Raphinha this low with the sheer stats he pumped out, however he won the same amount of trophies as one of the players remaining and less than the other. The placement for three and two is honestly one of personal preference however I believe this order is correct.

2. Lamine Yamal:

The next big thing. Yamal came at the perfect time for Barcelona. They are were still hurting from their financial crisis of the early 2020s and had not managed to replace the best player of all time (how could they?). Yet somehow, La Masia delivered again with Lamine Yamal.

Yamal has solidifed himself in the last 12 months as probably the best youngster in the history of the sport. The way he performs is genuinely what you would expect of a wonderkid on Football Manager. His basic dribbling is as silky as his predecessor, yet he has a taste for flair as well. Yamal also has an incredible amount of bite for a player his age. He has no issues calling out those who he feels have wronged him and he is yet to come out worse from his arrogant media antics.

His individual performances cannot be underestimated either, he bagged goal contributions in the supercup and cup final against Real Madrid, he brought Barcelona to equal terms against Inter Milan in the Champions League Semi-Final, he has performed on the biggest stage time and time again.

However, the stats cannot be ignored. Yamal is far and away the lowest goalscorer of the five, with a mere 18 goals this season. But should that matter? He is still at a combined 43 G/A in 55 games and in case it has to be said, at only SEVENTEEN years of age. He is also tied for the most assists with his teammate Raphinha.

Yamal is far from lacking silverware, winning both major domestic trophies and a super cup. His story is fantastic and he will be the face of one of the biggest clubs in the world for many, many years to come. However, for me at least, it is too early for this starboy to claim his prize as the best player in the world.

1. Ousmane Dembele:

I know, I know. At the start of this post I exposited for far too long about the overrating of the Champions League in the Ballon D’or. However, Dembele has seen a bit of a redemption tale himself in the 24/25 season.

In September, nobody predicted PSG to have the success they did. How could they when they had just lost the best player in the world to a major European rival for free? We all knew they would sweep the French trophies, as they do, but the Champions League? Not a chance. PSG did not do much to contest this belief as they scraped the very last qualifying position in the League Phase.

Then it happened, Ousmane Demeble came to life. He racked up goal contributions against the biggest threats time and time again. A goal against Man City, a hat trick against Stuttgart, the only goal against Liverpool, two assists against Aston Villa, a goal and an assist against Arsenal and two assists in the most humiliating defeat in the history of contemporary Champions League finals.

With 48 G/A in 49 games, Dembele has been relentless in his output. His scorching season brought PSG not only their first Champions League title, but their first treble with it. He showed the world that PSG did not need Mbappe, they only needed to give Dembele the keys.

For me, it is unthinkable that anyone else could win the award this year, Demeble has not only been a treat to watch, but he has shown it with the stats and had a great tale to go with it.

Concluding remarks.

So there we have it. My thoughts on the Ballon D’or 2025, and how we should view it going forward. This is my first time posting this kind of thing, but I will keep it up going forward.

I hope you enjoyed this short piece, and look forward to more posts in the future,

Dom.