Ousmane Dembele [1]was crowned the winner of the men’s Ballon d’Or at a star-studded ceremony in Paris on Monday evening.
The PSG[2] forward took home the accolade ahead of Barcelona[3]’s Lamine Yamal[4] after a stunning season where Luis Enrique’s side did the treble, including winning their first ever Champions League[5] title.
Dembele, 28, scored 35 goals and got 16 assists in 53 games last season.
The Frenchman was also named Player of the Season in the Champions League.
Meanwhile Yamal, 18, won the Kopa Trophy for Young Player of the Year.
‘It was an exceptional year,’ said Dembele, who was awarded the trophy by Ronaldinho. ‘The collective effort won,’ he added.
PSG forward Ousmane Dembele was crowned the winner of the men’s Ballon d’Or in Paris
Dembele won the trophy ahead of Lamine Yamal – who won the Young Player of the Year award
Nine of PSG’s squad from last season were nominated in the 30-man list for the award but the majority could not attend the event due to their rescheduled league game away at Marseille.
Dembele is currently injured so was able to attend the ceremony.
The initial fixture dubbed as ‘El Classique’ was postponed on Sunday due to storm warnings and Ligue 1 rules stipulate that matches suspended due to weather conditions must be played the following day, except in exceptional cases.
The Premier League’s best challenge came from Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (4th) after a stellar season where he won the PFA Men’s Player of the Year as Arne Slot’s side won the title.
Five British players were up for the honour with England’s Declan Rice (27th), Jude Bellingham (23rd), Cole Palmer (8th) and Harry Kane (13th) joined by Scotland’s Scott McTominay (18th) on the shortlist.
For the second year in a row, Real Madrid were absent from the event. They chose to miss last year’s ceremony, when forward Vinicius Junior was beaten to the award by Manchester City’s Rodri.
Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati, 27, won the Women’s Ballon d’Or for the third year in a row, ahead of Arsenal’s Mariona Caldentey, who came second and Alessia Russo in third.
England boss Wiegman won the Johann Cruyff Trophy for the best coach in the women’s game
Following the Lionesses’ Euro success in the summer, five of the winning England squad were nominated for the women’s award with captain Leah Williamson, shoot-out hero Chloe Kelly, and Russo among seven Arsenal nominees after they won the Women’s Champions League.
All of them finished in the top ten alongside Lucy Bronze of Barcelona and Hannah Hampton of Chelsea. Hampton was named women’s goalkeeper of the year with Gianluigi Donnarumma taking the men’s prize.
Sarina Wiegman, the Lionesses head coach, won the Johan Cruyff Trophy awarded to the best coach in the women’s game.
‘What an honour to win this award after a very special summer,’ said Wiegman, who was jokingly asked by Ruud Gullit on stage to ‘Please come back to Holland.’
Enrique won the award for the best men’s coach, beating the likes of Arne Slot, Antonio Conte, Enzo Maresca and Hansi Flick.
References
- ^ (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ PSG (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Barcelona (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Lamine Yamal (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Champions League (www.dailymail.co.uk)