With Lamine Yamal, Ousmane Dembélé is one of the two major contenders for obtaining the Golden Ball 2025. Author of 25 goals since the start of the calendar year, the tricolor international has carried out an exceptional 2025-2026 exercise.
According to Bookmakers, the number 10 of Paris Saint-Germain leaves largely favorite to win the prestigious individual reward, on September 22, at the Théâtre du Châtelet, in Paris. However, as incredible as it may seem, Jean-Pierre Papin would give it to the FC Barcelona player.
“Lamine Yamal deserves to win the Ballon d'Or this year. No PSG players? No, for me Yamal was the best and had an exceptional season ”, said the new RMC sports consultant. Words undoubtedly tinged in bad faith because of the liabilities of the former striker with Olympique de Marseille.
“And Ousmane Ballon d'Or”, very little for JPP
In the event of a coronation in a little less than a month, Ousmane Dembélé would become the sixth French player in history to lift the Ballon d'Or. He would succeed the record at Raymond Kopa (1958), Michel Platini (1983, 1984 and 1985), Jean-Pierre Papin (1991), Zinedine Zidane (1998) and Karim Benzema (2022).
As a reminder, three criteria are retained by the organizers for obtaining the award awarded to the best footballer of the year. It is the individual performance, the charts and the fair play as well as the positive attitude of the player. One hundred journalists from a hundred different countries, representing the first hundred countries in the FIFA classification, participate in the vote.
