The suspense is dead. Almost three weeks from the official ceremony, the name of the Ballon d'Or 2025 already seems known to everyone. The culprit? Ousmane Dembélé himself. An enigmatic story posted on Instagram on the night of Thursday to Friday, with a photo of his beginnings and the lyrics of a song (“I did not wait for things to come to me to see my dreams come true”), was interpreted by all as an admission. The PSG striker would have been warned by France Football of his victory.
Golden ball, one secret and less well kept
This leak, if it is confirmed, is far from being a first. It even became a bad habit. We remember the photo of Cristiano Ronaldo with his trophy in 2016, revelations of the radio Onda Cero for Modric in 2018, or complete lists which circulate on the networks of days in advance, as for Messi in 2023 or Rodri last year. Each year, the organizing magazine seems unable to keep it secret, ruining the suspense of its own ceremony.
This recurrence raises a real question of credibility. How can an institution so prestigious be so not very rigorous in the protection of its most precious information? Visits to the winner for official photos, calls to prepare for the event … So many breaches in which “insiders” and the media are causing to grill politeness to everyone.
Is the Ballon d'Or still a surprise? The Dembélé case poses question
An impossible mission at the time of the all-in-law?
Should we throw the stone solely to France Football ? At the time of instant information and social networks, keeping a secret of such magnitude has become an almost impossible mission. The organization of such an event requires preventing the winner and those around him, thus multiplying the risk of leaks. Last year, the magazine had even given up the traditional photo session upstream to try to preserve the mystery. Without success.
Evil is undoubtedly deeper. The Ballon d'Or has become a media issue such as the scoop race has taken precedence over respect for the event. This new leak, which seems to be the earliest of all, is perhaps too much. The one that should push organizers to rethink their process in depth. Because by dint of revealing the name of the winner before the party, we end up not wanting to come to the party.
