Dembele claims first Ballon d’Or as PSG dominate awards night

Ousmane Dembele has been crowned Ballon d’Or winner for the first time, capping a remarkable season that saw Paris St-Germain sweep the board at the annual ceremony in Paris, Sport360NG reports.

The 28-year-old forward was instrumental in PSG’s historic treble last campaign, scoring 35 goals and providing 14 assists across 53 appearances as the French champions lifted the Champions League, Ligue 1 and Coupe de France titles. He also fired 21 league goals to share the Ligue 1 golden boot and was named both Ligue 1 and Champions League Player of the Year.

Dembele beat Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal to the prestigious prize and was visibly emotional as he collected the trophy from Brazilian great Ronaldinho, with his mother joining him on stage.

“What I’ve just experienced is beyond words,” said Dembele, currently sidelined through injury and absent from PSG’s 1-0 loss to Marseille. “This trophy is not just mine, it belongs to the team, the staff, and everyone at PSG who believed in me.”

It marks an extraordinary turnaround for a player who had struggled for consistency since leaving Borussia Dortmund for Barcelona in 2017 for a fee that could have risen to £135m. A positional switch by PSG boss Luis Enrique midway through last season proved decisive, moving Dembele into a central striker role that unlocked his scoring touch. From December onwards, he netted 30 goals.

Signed by PSG for just £43.5m in 2023, the French international has now delivered on his early promise and becomes only the sixth Frenchman to win the Ballon d’Or, and the first since Karim Benzema in 2022.

PSG’s dominance was further underlined as they were named Team of the Year, while Enrique collected Coach of the Year for guiding the club to its first Champions League triumph.

Yamal, Gyökeres and Donnarumma among other winners

Barcelona’s teenage sensation Lamine Yamal finished runner-up in the Ballon d’Or vote but retained the Kopa Trophy for best player under 21, becoming the first to win it twice since its launch in 2018. The 18-year-old racked up 18 goals and 21 assists in 55 matches for Barca, helping them secure a domestic double and impressing for Spain at the Nations League.

Arsenal striker Viktor Gyökeres received the Gerd Müller Trophy as Europe’s top scorer, rewarded for a prolific year in which he struck 54 times for Sporting Lisbon and added nine more for Sweden before sealing a £64m summer switch to north London.

In the goalkeeping category, Gianluigi Donnarumma landed his second Yashin Trophy following a standout campaign with PSG before a deadline-day move to Manchester City. The Italian kept 17 clean sheets in 47 matches for the treble winners, edging out Liverpool’s Alisson Becker.

PSG’s clean sweep

Five PSG players finished in the top 10 of the Ballon d’Or voting: Dembele, Vitinha (third), Achraf Hakimi (sixth), Donnarumma (ninth) and Nuno Mendes (10th). Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah came fourth, while Chelsea’s Cole Palmer placed eighth.

The night confirmed PSG’s transformation into Europe’s dominant force, even after the departure of Kylian Mbappé last summer. For Dembele, it was the ultimate validation of a career that has finally reached its peak.