Article by Alexandru Tomuțiu – published Tuesday, September 23, 2025, 07:24 / Updated Tuesday, September 23, 2025 07:24
OUSMANE DEBELE (28 years old, right wing), won the golden balloon And it has achieved a performance that had not been done for 25 years.
Ousmane Dembele won the Golden Ball after an incredible season with Paris Saint-Germain and became the first footballer since 2001 who raises the trophy with a team from his own country.
Ousmane Dembele, near Jean-Pierre Papin, George Weah and Lionel Messi
Last time, Michael Owen managed this as Liverpool's player in 2001. Dembele is the fourth representative of Ligue 1 who triumphs in the fight for the golden balloon, after Jean -Pierre Papin (Marseille – 1991), George Weah (PSG – 1995) and Lionel Messi (PSG – 2021 and 2023).
Of the first 5 European championships, the Bundesliga gave the fewest gold balloons, according to Sportal.bg. Matthias Sammer won the prize in 1996 and became the sixth representative of the German championship with this distinction. In the last three years, the Bundesliga players have not caught the top 3.
Dembele won the Golden Ball, after succeeding the best season of his career. He recorded 53 matches, 35 goals and 16 decisive passes in the 2024-2025 season. He managed to win, at European level, the Champions League and the Super Cup. In France, PSG has won the title, Cup and Super Cup.
Top 10 Golden Ball 2025
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Ousmane Dembele
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Lamine Yamal
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Vitinha
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Mohamed Salah
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Raphinha
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Hakim
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Kylian Mbappe
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Cole Palmer
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Gianluigi Donnarumma
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Nuno Mendes
I am very happy that I received the Ronaldinho trophy. Thank you to the PSG club, to everyone in the club! We are an incredible family, led by the president of the club. I have an excellent relationship with him. I thank all the stars from PSG! They gave me a lot of confidence. It was extremely important for my career. I have extraordinary teammates. It's a team trophy.
And Barcelona played a big role in my career. I played with Messi there. It wasn't my goal to win the golden ball but I'm very happy. I won Chmpions League for the first time, I won the champion, now this trophy came and I am very happy.
– Ousmane Dembele, Golden Ball of 2025
