2025 Ballon d’Or Prediction thread

[Adbitco]

In terms of individual performance Mbappe had an outstanding performance last season and his number of goals made it crazier but his team has no trophy to back up his performance, Dembele couldn't get the same number of goals no equal the performance of Mbappe but he has helped his team PSG to win the champions League, French Ligue1 championship and the league title. The league Dembele plays does not matter this time but being able to win the champions League competition backs his quality up cause he definitely had a better season than Mbappe this season.

Yeah, Mbappe has an incredible season based on individual capabilities, his goals, assists and number of the man of the match. his goals earned him both the Pichichi and the European golden boot, alongside his two trophies, UEFA Super cup and FIFA intercontinental cup but on the other hand both Dembele and Yamal has more trophies to their names which puts both of them at the forefront of the award.

[BIT-BENDER]

Most of the French players including Mbappe are going for Ousmane Dembele it is now becoming a sentimental award, even though Dembele deserves the award I think that Spanish players will likely vote for Lamine Yamal and French, real Madrid, PSG players will go for Dembele.
If Lamine Yamal wins today's competition I think he would be leading in the leaderboard.

[stompix]

So Yamal nosedived on both Polymarket and Betfair exchange right after the match



Not so much logic in this, considering that Dembele didn't play, but probably they are doubling down that Ymal has no win this season, so, ....whatever.
Just like the Oscars or the new Pope, gambling and betting on this is more thinking about the money and the publicity involved as well as which is in the line to win or what club or sponsor needs to add a win, hopefully, they will keep nationality and politics out of it this time.

[Despairo]

Okay let's continue this discussion, UEFA Nations A already ended, congratulations to Portugal!

Not so much logic in this, considering that Dembele didn't play, but probably they are doubling down that Ymal has no win this season, so, ....whatever.
Just like the Oscars or the new Pope, gambling and betting on this is more thinking about the money and the publicity involved as well as which is in the line to win or what club or sponsor needs to add a win, hopefully, they will keep nationality and politics out of it this time.

I think it's already clear, Spain didn't win Nations A so he has no achievement more than domestic league. Even though Dembele didn't play in bronze final, but he has international trophy aka Champions League.

If Yamal won, pretty sure politics play because many people compare him with Messi.

[Dump3er]

I think normally Salah deserves to be one of top contenders for Ballon d'Or prize. But I'm afraid Champions League success is very important to decide the winner. Otherwise he had one of his best seasons of his career after the age of 30.

I'm surprised to see Raphinha even below Salah. Because I thought he might be even more favoured than Yamal considering his total goal contribution this season. As for my prediction I expect Dembele to be awarded it as PSG won the Champions League.

It's difficult for any Ligue 1 player to win that award, but this time I think Dembele is the one to win it given that he not only won the Champions League title, but he contributed in a special way to winning it. Important goals, important assists and then the title will make the difference in comparison to Yamal and Raphina.

The stats of any of these three players is beyond spectacular. Raphinha has a total goal contribution (goals and assists) of >1. Dembele is about =1 and Yamal is I think slightly below 0.8. All of these values are tremendous and they coincide with a high number of games played. It is not like one of them only played 10 games and had some luck appearences. These stats are representing full consistency in any of the competitions in every game.

It would have been a controversical topic if Barcelona had won the Champions League because it is so impressive what Yamal has done at the age of 17 that it would on one side not be wrong to award him, on the other side it would be absurd to see him get that best player award knowing that he competed with players like Mbappe. 

[Frankolala]

Okay let's continue this discussion, UEFA Nations A already ended, congratulations to Portugal!

Not so much logic in this, considering that Dembele didn't play, but probably they are doubling down that Ymal has no win this season, so, ....whatever.
Just like the Oscars or the new Pope, gambling and betting on this is more thinking about the money and the publicity involved as well as which is in the line to win or what club or sponsor needs to add a win, hopefully, they will keep nationality and politics out of it this time.

I think it's already clear, Spain didn't win Nations A so he has no achievement more than domestic league. Even though Dembele didn't play in bronze final, but he has international trophy aka Champions League.

If Yamal won, pretty sure politics play because many people compare him with Messi.

Yea, since Portugal won Spain in the finals, Yamal chances of winning it is limited compared to Dembele. Politics shouldn't be involved in this but what do you expect from humans who are manipulative in nature. Dembele deserves it more than Yamal or Raphina due to his achievements this season and his contributions in scoring and goal assists.

[katanic97]

How do you comment on Cristiano Ronaldo's statement about the Ballon dor? He said that the award should go to a player who won the Champions League, and that the Ballon dor has lost its value. In my opinion, he's right i think Dembele deserved it, but we'll see soon. Yamal is indeed a great player and has shown a lot, but he's still very young and his time is yet to come.

[KTChampions]

So Yamal nosedived on both Polymarket and Betfair exchange right after the match



Not so much logic in this, considering that Dembele didn't play, but probably they are doubling down that Ymal has no win this season, so, ....whatever.
Just like the Oscars or the new Pope, gambling and betting on this is more thinking about the money and the publicity involved as well as which is in the line to win or what club or sponsor needs to add a win, hopefully, they will keep nationality and politics out of it this time.

Yes, it's all a matter of taste and business. What else should Mendes do to at least be among the favorites? He won the treble and the Nations League and was one of the key players everywhere, winning duels with Salah, Sakka, Yamal.
It's good that it looks like Dembele will win the prize and not the new FIFA boy.

[uchegod-21]

How do you comment on Cristiano Ronaldo's statement about the Ballon dor? He said that the award should go to a player who won the Champions League, and that the Ballon dor? has lost its value. In my opinion, he's right i think Dembele deserved it, but we'll see soon. Yamal is indeed a great player and has shown a lot, but he's still very young and his time is yet to come.

I did not like the idea that if Yamal deserve the Ballon d'Or, he should be denied it because he is still young and has the chances of winning it even more than once in the future. That is a faulty logic. No one actually knows tomorrow and you never can tell who will reign in the next season. If we were told that till now mbappé will not win the Ballon d'Or, majority of us will not believe but now it is increasingly difficult for him to do. If Yamal deserves it, give it to him.

So Yamal nosedived on both Polymarket and Betfair exchange right after the match

When will defenders begin to have chances of winning? It's like football is somehow unfair to the defenders.
N. Mendez has all it takes to win the Balloon d'Or
Also Hakimi has a great stat to compete but you won't hear the media mentioning them.

[Akbarkoe]

How do you comment on Cristiano Ronaldo's statement about the Ballon dor? He said that the award should go to a player who won the Champions League, and that the Ballon dor has lost its value. In my opinion, he's right i think Dembele deserved it, but we'll see soon. Yamal is indeed a great player and has shown a lot, but he's still very young and his time is yet to come.

In fact, what CR7 said was quite ambiguous and backfired on himself, maybe he forgot that in 2013 he managed to win the ballon d'Or because of the voting results, not because he won the champions league trophy. In addition, what he said was also quite contradictory to his statement in the previous year, where he said that Yamal was a player who was worthy enough to win the ballon d'Or award.

because this is quite contradictory to what he said before, and the statement was made before the UEFA Nations League final match, I think that what he said was only to provoke Yamal so that his concentration in the final match against Portugal would be broken. CR7 tried to take advantage of his young age, because in terms of emotional control Yamal is still quite unstable. This is just my guess.

[imamusma]

When will defenders begin to have chances of winning? It's like football is somehow unfair to the defenders.
N. Mendez has all it takes to win the Balloon d'Or
Also Hakimi has a great stat to compete but you won't hear the media mentioning them.

It does seem unfair, attackers always get more attention, I think it's fair because they can always attract a lot of fans. That's why the Ballon d'Or is always identical to attackers, as far as I can remember the last defender to win the Ballon d'Or was Fabio Cannavaro in 2006.
Maybe in the future we will see one of the defenders win the Ballon d'Or, and Hakimi is the player who deserves it. Most likely Dembele will win it this year, Rodri name has been drowned out because injuries throughout the season.

[KTChampions]

When will defenders begin to have chances of winning? It's like football is somehow unfair to the defenders.
N. Mendez has all it takes to win the Balloon d'Or
Also Hakimi has a great stat to compete but you won't hear the media mentioning them.

Once every 20-30 years, but even that is not a fact, since show business in football is gaining more and more weight every year, so "ordinary workers" have no chance even if they are ideal, only bright stars are needed. Although by the way, recently, due to the fact that it was necessary to deprive Vinnie of the award, it was received by Rodri. Another such anecdotal scenario is possible.
In general, all these PR awards are a clown show, like that season when Real won the Champions League (beating Liverpool, City and Chelsea) but City was recognized as the best club of the year, Liverpool was second and Real was only third 

[LTU_btc]

How do you comment on Cristiano Ronaldo's statement about the Ballon dor? He said that the award should go to a player who won the Champions League, and that the Ballon dor has lost its value. In my opinion, he's right i think Dembele deserved it, but we'll see soon. Yamal is indeed a great player and has shown a lot, but he's still very young and his time is yet to come.

When Ronaldo was winning Ballon d'Or, he wasn't complaining that this trophy lost it's value 
It's popularity contest, we don't see goalkeepers or defenders winning it. I think Champions league final answered all questions who will get it. If not PSG win there, I would go with Rapinha.
But damn, when Dembele was playing for Barca few years ago, I never though that he will be even contender for Golden Ball.

[BIT-BENDER]

How do you comment on Cristiano Ronaldo's statement about the Ballon dor? He said that the award should go to a player who won the Champions League, and that the Ballon dor has lost its value. In my opinion, he's right i think Dembele deserved it, but we'll see soon. Yamal is indeed a great player and has shown a lot, but he's still very young and his time is yet to come.

When Ronaldo was winning Ballon d'Or, he wasn't complaining that this trophy lost it's value 
It's popularity contest, we don't see goalkeepers or defenders winning it. I think Champions league final answered all questions who will get it. If not PSG win there, I would go with Rapinha.
But damn, when Dembele was playing for Barca few years ago, I never though that he will be even contender for Golden Ball.

Ronaldo is a great player and all but I think some times he contradict himself especially when it has to do with the world best player, I wonder how loud he would have been if he just had same gifts as Leonel Messi has.
Frank Ribery had to remind him that he lost the ballon D'or award even though he won the treble that very season.
Once Ronaldo or anyone get supports doesn't win it you hear lots of strange opinions.

[KTChampions]

Ronaldo is a great player and all but I think some times he contradict himself especially when it has to do with the world best player, I wonder how loud he would have been if he just had same gifts as Leonel Messi has.
Frank Ribery had to remind him that he lost the ballon D'or award even though he won the treble that very season.
Once Ronaldo or anyone get supports doesn't win it you hear lots of strange opinions.

Just look at Ribery's stats that season - he had one goal in the Champions League in the group stage and an average rating of just over 6. A bit low for a team that won the Champions League, right? Plus let's not forget that he finished third that year, you can't say that he lost to Ronaldo because he even lost to Messi, who lost to Ronaldo and finished second. By the way, I also remembered that he was involved in a scandal involving sex with a minor; he had no chance of receiving an award with such a background.

[Alpha Marine]

Most of the French players including Mbappe are going for Ousmane Dembele it is now becoming a sentimental award, even though Dembele deserves the award I think that Spanish players will likely vote for Lamine Yamal and French, real Madrid, PSG players will go for Dembele.
If Lamine Yamal wins today's competition I think he would be leading in the leaderboard.

It's a good thing it's not the players that vote. Based on individual performance, Dembele was not a better player than Lamine Yamal. Yamal was almost always the best player in the field whenever he played, but he doesn't always win the man of the match because it's either other people score the goals or his team loses, like we saw against Inter.
Raphinha even had a better individual season than Dembele, but because Dembele won the treble, it looks as if Dembele was better.
The balon d'Or winner, to me, should go to Lamine Yamal. The best player of the year award is not the highest goal score or the player with the most assist, or the player than won the most trophies or Champions Legaue, it is an award for the best player in the world and how well he performed and how well his team performed and that person id Yamal. He was the most outstanding player this season.

[Nheer]

When Ronaldo was winning Ballon d'Or, he wasn't complaining that this trophy lost it's value 
It's popularity contest, we don't see goalkeepers or defenders winning it. I think Champions league final answered all questions who will get it. If not PSG win there, I would go with Rapinha.
But damn, when Dembele was playing for Barca few years ago, I never though that he will be even contender for Golden Ball.

Of course we all know the Balloon D'or award lost its value some years back and I think it's clear to us all by now, there are years that it was given to the wrong person and some given to the right person but I think the organizers are the ones complicating things, they supposed to have a certain criteria they look for in players when choosing a winner.
Virgil Van Djik was supposed to win it once but they went on to give it to Messi after Van Djik won everything and even had a very impressive performance that season. Messi won the award when he won the World Cup but now people want them to neglect winning trophies.

Even if it is not based on Trophies I don't think Yamal will be winning it because he doesn't has much goals compared to Dembele.

[Dump3er]

Most of the French players including Mbappe are going for Ousmane Dembele it is now becoming a sentimental award, even though Dembele deserves the award I think that Spanish players will likely vote for Lamine Yamal and French, real Madrid, PSG players will go for Dembele.
If Lamine Yamal wins today's competition I think he would be leading in the leaderboard.

It's a good thing it's not the players that vote. Based on individual performance, Dembele was not a better player than Lamine Yamal. Yamal was almost always the best player in the field whenever he played, but he doesn't always win the man of the match because it's either other people score the goals or his team loses, like we saw against Inter.
Raphinha even had a better individual season than Dembele, but because Dembele won the treble, it looks as if Dembele was better.
The balon d'Or winner, to me, should go to Lamine Yamal. The best player of the year award is not the highest goal score or the player with the most assist, or the player than won the most trophies or Champions Legaue, it is an award for the best player in the world and how well he performed and how well his team performed and that person id Yamal. He was the most outstanding player this season.

On the one hand I agree with you that this award sometimes lacks individual considerations. Best proof is that goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders practically never win it.

Having said this, if this award would not be considering trophies anymore, it would end in awful discussions within the community. There has to be a certain objective measure that does at least provide a least amount of justification that everyone can relate to.

Ultimately trohpies are not a question of taste and proclaimed expertise. Goals work the same way, it is an objective measure although I would argue that there is a lack of objectivity if you compare the number of goals across all leagues.

An approach that I came up with for myself is not to ultimately judge who really deserves the Ballon d’Or, but whether the final winner did not deserve it. If you ask who deserves it, there will be several players coming from many opinions. But once someone won it and you would be asked whether it is totally wrong to give this award to that player, I think it is easier to agree.

If Dembele gets the award, I for myself can say that it is not wrong. Would it be wrong if Yamal gets it? No, it wouldn't be wrong. Mbappe would be wrong.

[Zlantann]

I did not like the idea that if Yamal deserve the Ballon d'Or, he should be denied it because he is still young and has the chances of winning it even more than once in the future. That is a faulty logic. No one actually knows tomorrow and you never can tell who will reign in the next season. If we were told that till now mbappé will not win the Ballon d'Or, majority of us will not believe but now it is increasingly difficult for him to do. If Yamal deserves it, give it to him.

Age shouldn't be a barrier for the Lamine Yamal to win the award.  The young player is extraordinary and plays like a 25 year old with great strength and stamina. He should be given the award if he gets the maximum votes. But with his performance in the finals where he was boxed by Nuno Mendes, his chances reduced drastically.

When will defenders begin to have chances of winning? It's like football is somehow unfair to the defenders.
N. Mendez has all it takes to win the Balloon d'Or
Also Hakimi has a great stat to compete but you won't hear the media mentioning them.

Football had not been fair to midfielders, defenders and goalkeepers. Nuno Mendes, Achraf Hakimi and Gianluigi Donnarumma all deserve to be in the top ten. But because of the position they play, they might not get high votes. Many people think that football is all about scoring goals, so strikers get the biggest support.

[katanic97]

How do you comment on Cristiano Ronaldo's statement about the Ballon dor? He said that the award should go to a player who won the Champions League, and that the Ballon dor has lost its value. In my opinion, he's right i think Dembele deserved it, but we'll see soon. Yamal is indeed a great player and has shown a lot, but he's still very young and his time is yet to come.

When Ronaldo was winning Ballon d'Or, he wasn't complaining that this trophy lost it's value 
It's popularity contest, we don't see goalkeepers or defenders winning it. I think Champions league final answered all questions who will get it. If not PSG win there, I would go with Rapinha.
But damn, when Dembele was playing for Barca few years ago, I never though that he will be even contender for Golden Ball.

You're right, he didn’t complain back then, but to be fair, i think he was twice as good as some of the players today.
I can’t even remember the last time I saw a defender or like you said, even a goalkeeper win it.
I remember one season when Lewandowski was nominated and was the clear favorite, yet he still didn’t win.
So we’ll see what happens in the near future, maybe we’ll finally see a defender or even a goalkeeper win it.
As for Dembele, at Barcelona he seemed uninterested and couldn’t really stand out.
Now, things are totally different for him at PSG