Dembélé and Kelly among the favorites to win men’s and women’s Ballon d’Or award in Paris

By Canadian Press on September 22, 2025.

PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain forward Ousmane Dembélé and England forward Chloe Kelly are among the leading contenders to win the men’s and women’s Ballon d’Or award on Monday.

They are frontrunners among the 30 men’s and 30 women’s nominees revealed last month by France Football magazine, with the winners announced at a ceremony in central Paris.

The 28-year-old Dembélé was inspirational in leading PSG to its first Champions League title and is among a remarkable nine PSG players vying for the men’s award. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has since joined Manchester City but was nominated as a PSG player.

Teenage Barcelona star Lamine Yamal and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah are among the other men’s candidates.

When England won the women’s European Championship in July, the 27-year-old Kelly blasted home the decisive penalty in the final against World Cup winner Spain. She also won the women’s Champions League with surprise winner Arsenal.

She faces competition from defender Lucy Bronze and goalkeeper Hannah Hampton — her England teammates who both play for Chelsea — and from Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmatí, the winner of the past two awards.

Barcelona players have won the past four women’s awards.

PSG players absent

Because the French soccer league postponed Sunday night’s match between host Marseille and PSG by 24 hours due to a severe weather forecast, the match at Stade Velodrome is scheduled to start Monday at 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT).

That clashes with the Ballon d’Or ceremony and prevents most PSG players from attending.

However, Dembélé, and his fellow nominees Désiré Doué and João Neves are injured and not in the matchday squad, leaving them free to attend the ceremony.

PSG’s Luis Enrique was nominated for best coach.

The voting system

The Ballon d’Or was created by France Football magazine and has been awarded since 1956 for men, and since 2018 for women. It is voted for by journalists from the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings for the men’s award and the top 50 FIFA-ranked countries for the women’s award.

Each journalist, one per country, selects players in ranked order with points attributed to each position. ___

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