Updated B/R Ballon d'Or Rankings After 2025 UEFA Champions League Final
With Paris Saint-Germain’s dominant 5-0 win over Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League final, the 2024-25 European football season is officially over.
That means the players looking to win the Ballon d'Or—the top individual award in world football—have run out of opportunities to make their case.
While the revamped FIFA Club World Cup is set to run from June 15 to July 13, it doesn't feel like the tournament will have much of an impact on the trajectory of this year's race for the golden orb.
FIFA's latest cash-grab seems more like an exhibition than a serious competition.
In March, Bleacher Report's world football team tried to pick out the likely winner of the 2025 Ballon d'Or, with Raphinha and Mohamed Salah appearing to be the front-runners at the time. But three months is a long time in football. What's the situation now that the season has concluded?
Read on for the latest 2025 Ballon d'Or rankings, which feature some notable movers.
Stats were sourced from TransferMarkt unless otherwise stated.
10. Gianluigi Donnarumma (New Entry)
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The Ballon d'Or typically neglects goalkeepers. In fact, you have to go all the way back to Lev Yashin in 1963 for the last time a No. 1 picked up the trophy.
So, Gianluigi Donnarumma landing 10th in the voting might even be considered ambitious with that being the case.
However, the Italy international has been colossal this season, helping PSG on the way to a historic quadruple of Ligue 1, Coupe de France, Trophée des Champions and, of course, the Champions League. It was in that latter competition where he was truly formidable, though.
The 26-year-old was the saviour in the round-of-16 penalty shootout against Liverpool, saving two of the Reds' three penalties to take the pressure off his side's takers.
He also came up with some huge saves in the other knockout fixtures on PSG's run to their first European Cup, and he kept a clean sheet in the final—although he was a spectator for a lot of the game.
Donnarumma's mastery of football’s "dark arts," intentionally slowing the game down and running down the clock when his team needed it, also helped PSG get through some tricky knockout fixtures and eventually win the top prize.
His rise into the top 10 is warranted, but he won’t get much higher than 10th in the voting.
9. Kylian Mbappé (Down 5)
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Kylian Mbappé’s first season at Real Madrid can be considered a disappointment.
After habitually winning league titles with Paris Saint-Germain, the France international came up empty in his first season in La Liga. Still, after a rocky start to his Los Blancos career, he proved why he was the most coveted free agent in world football history.
The 26-year-old scored 42 goals in 55 games in all competitions, and he still picked up two trophies in the Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. For a player of Mbappé’s reputation at a club with the standards of Real Madrid, though, this was an undoubted failure.
A La Liga Golden Boot is nice, but he would have wanted and expected so much more after making the high-profile switch. Unfortunately for Mbappé, a Ballon d'Or win won’t be forthcoming to ease the frustration.
8. Harry Kane (Down 2)
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He’s finally won a trophy.
Despite being one of the finest strikers in the history of the game, Harry Kane had to wait until he was 31 years old to pick up his first silverware.
The England international scored 26 goals and assisted 10 more on Bayern Munich’s run to the Bundesliga title. Despite his relative lack of mobility compared to the players who buzz around him, he was still deadly in front of goal, a huge central target in the final third and a great foil for others to play off of.
He’s had seasons with more goal contributions—even last year he was more prolific in that sense—but never has that been backed up with a title. It's a huge weight off his shoulders, and he still has time to add to his no-longer-empty trophy cabinet.
But Bayern's exit in the Champions League quarter-finals was not helpful for his bid to win another individual award, so he will have to settle for eighth. But he will happily console himself with that Bundesliga winner's medal.
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7. Robert Lewandowski (Up 2)
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Has Robert Lewandowski’s season gone a little under the radar?
The 36-year-old has undoubtedly been overshadowed by his more youthful teammates, but he still had a remarkable campaign.
The Poland international was second in the La Liga Golden Boot race with 27 goals, and his 11 goals in 13 Champions League games helped Barcelona reach the semi-finals.
While he lost out to Mbappé for the domestic scoring title, his contributions did result in a La Liga trophy, which the Frenchman cannot claim to have achieved.
Lewandowski is still fit and firing despite being closer to 40 than 30, and he still looks like he has another couple of years in him at the top level. Having young legs around him will help in those ambitions.
However, the elusive individual award still looks beyond the frontman, which is a huge shame for someone who has given so much to the game.
6. Achraf Hakimi (New Entry)
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While Achraf Hakimi missed out on B/R's Champions League XI selection, he won't care a bit since he got his hands on the big-eared trophy.
The 26-year-old scored nine and provided 14 assists across PSG's quadruple-winning campaign, and he got the party started on Saturday by coolly slotting home the opening goal.
The Morocco international was key to his club's turnaround in fortunes in Europe’s top club competition after a rough start.
After the Ligue 1 side won just one of their opening five games, Hakimi provided five assists in five games as PSG won their last three games of the League Phase and then brushed Stade Brestois aside in the knockout playoff round.
Without his contributions, perhaps PSG wouldn't have reached the promised land. After looking far from contention for the Ballon d'Or in March, a sixth-place finish would be an achievement in itself.
5. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (New Entry)
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On Saturday, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia became the first Georgian to score in a European Cup final and only the second player from his nation to lift the trophy.
His push for a move away from Napoli in the January transfer window was a gamble that paid off, even with his former club going on to win Serie A.
Now, he's won the top title in club football and cemented his name in Georgia's history books. The 24-year-old has been electric for PSG, continuing on the trajectory that made him one of the most coveted wingers on the planet while playing in Italy.
He’s scored seven and assisted six for Les Parisiens, including a crucial goal in the Champions League quarter-final first leg, an assist in the semis and a fine strike in the final to make it 4-0.
Aside from the numbers and the trophies, though, it's the absolute fear he places in defenders that makes him so devastating. He's so daring, direct and clinical in front of goal that you can’t take your eyes off him for a second.
In the next few years, Kvaratskhelia could make a case for a top-three place in the Ballon d'Or stakes.
4. Mohamed Salah (Down 3)
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On March 18, Mohamed Salah was on top of B/R's list to finish the season as the Ballon d'Or winner.
From that point until the end of the campaign, he only scored two goals and provided one assist. While he still managed to match the Premier League record for goals and assists in a single campaign (47), he should have shattered that milestone with ease.
His drop-off was a bit concerning, but thankfully for his club, they had no challengers for the Premier League, so his increasing ineffectiveness didn't hinder the title chase.
Still, he won the league's Golden Boot award and his second Premier League title, and he was directly responsible for over half of Liverpool's goals in domestic action to bring that honor to Merseyside.
However, since the Egypt international wasn't able to maintain his scintillating form, he has dropped down the Ballon d'Or rankings—even missing out on a top-three spot.
3. Lamine Yamal (Non-Mover)
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In case you needed reminding, Lamine Yamal is 17 years old. Of course, that's the first thing most people mention when talking about the Barcelona winger, so it's likely you knew that anyway.
After being a vital part of Spain's Euro 2024 win, he continued his bewildering form for Barcelona in their La Liga-winning campaign. He scored nine and assisted 15 on the way to domestic glory, providing the most helpers in La Liga for the 2024-25 season (four more than teammate Raphinha in second place).
Despite La Blaugrana's exit at the semi-final stage, Yamal was immense in the Champions League, too, scoring five and laying four more on a plate in 13 games.
He's 17. We know that's been said already, but it's a staggering fact that is difficult not to repeat with increasing incredulity. The reigning Kopa Trophy holder will no doubt pick up that award again in 2025. But this year, he will stand on the podium for the Ballon d'Or, too.
2. Raphinha (Non-Mover)
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In a season that fully shut up his doubters, Raphinha finished sixth in the La Liga scoring charts (18), second in the assists table (11) and won the league title.
The Brazil international was sensational for the Blaugrana and a key element of their success in 2024-25.
While the 28-year-old couldn't quite drag his team to the Champions League final, he still finished joint top in the competition's top scorers list with 13 (alongside Serhou Guirassy) and provided the most assists (nine).
All told, it's 34 goals and 25 assists across all competitions, achieved in 57 appearances.
Raphinha looked like a special player when he was with Leeds United in the Premier League, but few could have predicted his stratospheric rise, especially after a slow start to life in Spain.
Now, if he's not already at world-class status, he's banging loudly on the door. When it comes to the Ballon d'Or, though, one player has made a more impressive case.
1. Ousmane Dembele (Up 4)
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"Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele" is perhaps not something you would have expected to read at the start of the 2024-25 season.
But at the end of it, though, it sounds about right.
After years of not living up to his tantalizing potential, the 28-year-old delivered a campaign for the ages. He was Ligue 1's joint-top scorer with 21, with his club going on to lift the domestic league title. His eight assists also mean he was responsible for the highest share of goals in the French top flight in 2024-25.
Dembele scored the only goal as PSG won the Tropheé des Champions, and he scored twice and assisted once in a 4-2 Coupe de France semi-final win, too.
Then there's the Champions League. He scored eight and provided six assists on the way to PSG lifting the trophy, and he notched vital goals in the round-of-16 second leg, the semi-final first leg and provided two assists in the final.
Like his fellow PSG attackers, he's also put the fear of God into defenders all season long, and that's been a big part of what makes the side from the French capital so terrifying to play against—and so delightful to watch.
You would have got high odds for picking Dembele to be named the best player in world football at the start of the season. Now, it seems like a formality.
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