Later this year, France Football will hand out the Ballon d'Or Award 2025, and it is expected that a player from Barcelona or Paris Saint-Germain will win. Ousmane Dembele, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Vitinha are one of the leading candidates, in what is expected to be a very narrow battle.
Barcelona officials support Lamine Yamal to become the winner, and if he did this, he would become the youngest balloon d'Or holder years younger than Ronaldo Nazario, who took the prize home in 1997.
There are many throughout France that support Dembele, or even vitinha or Achraf Hakimi. But this is not the case for Jean-Pierre Papin, who won the Ballon d'Or in 1991. According to Sport, he believes that Lamine Yamal would be the worthy winner.
“Lamine Yamal deserves to win the balloon d'Or this year.” No (against Dembele or Hakimi), for me Yamal was the best and had an exceptional season. “
A Barcelona player has not won the Ballon d'Or since 2021 (Lionel Messi), so there is a strong wish under the Catalan club for one of their players to take home the honor four years later. And while Lamine Yamal or Raphinha would be a worthy winner, the same can be said for Dembele.
It will be interesting to see who was successful later this year during the prize ceremony. There is every chance that another shock will occur, which will follow Rodri's victory in 2024 for Vinicius Junior.