Ballon d'Or 2025: Ousmane Dembele and Jude Bellingham in first set of 10 nominees for this year's award

Ousmane Dembele and Jude Bellingham have been included in the first set of 10 nominees for the Ballon d'Or 2025. The prestigious trophy is all set to be handed out at the awards ceremony scheduled for September 22 at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.

Dembele is among the favorites for the biggest individual award in football following a stunning campaign with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). The French forward registered 35 goals and 16 assists from 53 games to help the Parisians secure a historic treble.

Bellingham, meanwhile, won the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup with Real Madrid last season. The Englishman finished the campaign with 15 goals and 15 assists from 58 games.

Journalists from France Football and L'Equipe, and a few select former players were involved in drawing up a 30-man shortlist for this year's Ballon d'Or. Apart from Bellingham and Dembele, there are also quite a few heavyweights among the first set of nominees.

PSG custodian Gianluigi Donnarumma makes the cut, along with club teammates Desire Doue and Achraf Hakimi. Inter Milan right-back Denzel Dumfries is also among the nominees after a stunning campaign.

Borussia Dortmund's Serhou Guirassy, Manchester City's Erling Haaland, and new Arsenal signing Viktor Gyokeres have also been included in the shortlist. Harry Kane is also in the mix for this year's Ballon d'Or after registering 41 goals and 14 assists from 51 games for Bayern Munich last season.

France Football have also announced the second set of 10 nominees for the award, read them here.

Who won the Ballon d'Or last year?

Manchester City's Rodri won the Ballon d'Or last year ahead of Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior. The Spanish midfielder had enjoyed a brilliant 2023-24 campaign with the Premier League giants, and also guided Spain to a Euro 2024 triumph.

The Brazilian, meanwhile, had won the LaLiga title as well as the Champions League in the 2024-25 season. The race turned out to be a closely contested affair, but it was Rodri who came out on top in the end.

The 29-year-old finished with 1170 points, with Vinicius coming second with 1129 points. Jude Bellingham completed the podium with 917 points.

The top ten also included Dani Carvajal, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Lautaro Martinez, Lamine Yamal, Toni Kroos, and Harry Kane. Interestingly, Real Madrid were furious about Vinicius Junior missing out on the 2024 Ballon d'Or, and none of their players attended the awards ceremony.

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Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over seven years at Sportskeeda. He has written more than 9500 articles for the website, and has garnered close to 21 million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

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Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Deepungsu Pandit