After a long wait, the 2025 Ballon d'Or awards were announced on Monday (September 22) in Paris. While Aitana Bonmati was always expected to be the frontrunner to bag the main prize in the women's category, the men's section was fully dipped in mystery till the very end.
Ousmane Dembele, who eventually won the prize, was hotly debated to be the frontrunner but there was serious competition from two Barcelona men in Lamine Yamal and Raphinha. Dembele also had competition from his own club Paris Saint-Germaine with Vitinha and Nuno Mendes also in the mix. At the end of it all, it came down to the wire, with Dembele and Yamal as the last two men standing. When the legendary Ronaldinho opened the envelope to announce Dembele's name as the winner, it broke a long wait of 34 years for French football. Curious? Here's why.
Despite being the proud organizers of arguably the biggest prize in football, France only had three representatives winning the men's Ballon d'Or award since 1990. Of this, two of them came in the 1990s and after 1998, it took 24 long years before a Frenchman won the award - Karim Benzema. However, there is more to this. Benzema won in 2022 but he had not represented a French club, he was part of the famous Real Madrid squad under Carlo Ancelotti. When Zinedine Zidane won in 1998, he was part of the iconic Juventus squad. We have to go all the way back to 1991 when Jean-Pierre Papin won, to see a Frenchman representing a French club winning the Ballon d'Or men's award.
Ousmane Dembélé. Ballon d’Or 2025. #ballondor pic.twitter.com/hvJ1lo9FTc
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) September 23, 2025
Now, 34 years later, Dembele has replicated Papin to be part of the elite list of French football. Given that the French league faces stiffer competition from the English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga, it's not surprising that players from Ligue 1 have seldom won the award during the last two decades. A large chunk of this millenium has been obviously dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Let us take a look at the list of Ballon d'Or men's award winners since 1990.
List of Ballon d'Or winners since 1990
1990 - Lothar Matthaus (Germany/Inter Milan)
1991 - Jean-Pierre Papin (France/Marseille)
1992 - Marco van Basten (Netherlands/AC Milan)
1993 - Roberto Baggio (Italy/Juventus)
1994 - Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria/Barcelona)
1995 - George Weah (Liberia/AC Milan)
1996 - Matthias Sammer (Germany/Borussia Dortmund)
1997 - Ronaldo (Brazil/Inter Milan)
1998 - Zinedine Zidane (France/Juventus)
1999 - Rivaldo (Brazil/Barcelona)
2000 - Luis Figo (Portugal/Real Madrid)
2001 - Michael Owen (England/Liverpool)
2002 - Ronaldo (Brazil/Real Madrid)
2003 - Pavel Nedved (Czech Republic/Juventus)
2004 - Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine/AC Milan)
2005 - Ronaldinho (Brazil/Barcelona)
2006 - Fabio Cannavaro (Italy/Real Madrid)
2007 - Kaka (Brazil/AC Milan)
2008 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Manchester united)
2009 - Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona)
2010 - Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona)
2011 - Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona)
2012 - Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona)
2013 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid)
2014 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid)
2015 - Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona)
2016 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid)
2017 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid)
2018 - Luka Modric (Croatia/Real Madrid)
2019 - Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona)
2020 - Not awarded
2021 - Lionel Messi (Argentina/Paris Saint-Germaine)
2022 - Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid)
2023 - Lionel Messi (Argentina/Inter Miami)
2024 - Rodri (Spain/Manchester City)
2025 - Ousmane Dembele (France/Paris Saint-Germaine)
