Who is your best pick for the 2025 Ballon d’Or?

With just the Club World Cup left as a competition that could decide the winner of the 2025 Ballon d’Or, we now know some of the main favourites to win it.

There are so many good footballers in the world at the moment, and it has probably been easier to pick the winner in the past.

When Cristiano Ronaldo sold Real Madrid tickets and Lionel Messi did the same at Barcelona, both of them were the main challengers for the award every summer.

However, they are no longer in the mix, even though Ronaldo has just won the Nations League with the Portugal national team.

CR7 now plays club football in Saudi Arabia, a competition that is not considered strong enough by the organisers of the Ballon d’Or, while Messi competes in the MLS, helping to sell Inter Miami tickets.

They are at the end of their careers and have enjoyed their time in the spotlight, so they will be watching from home when the next winner emerges.

There are so many options for the journalists who would vote for the award, and some of them would wish they did not have to make such a difficult choice.

France Football, the organisers, have faced criticism over awarding some of the awards in the past, but their process is as transparent as it can be and should not cause the controversies it sometimes causes.

How the winner emerges

Every year, journalists and football experts select a group of 30 players, in collaboration with France Football, the award owners.

Since 2022, the award has changed from a year-based performance to focus on the most recent football season.

Since then, players have been awarded based on their performance in a particular season, so the next winner would be a player who did well in the 2024/2025 campaign.

The award's voters are journalists from the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings. Each country has one journalist who is responsible for his vote.

The journalists rank their top five players in their votes, with each first pick earning the voted player six points, while a second place earns 4 points, third place, three points, 4th place, two points and 5th plac,e one point.

When all votes are in, the points are tallied, and the player with the highest points total is declared the winner.

Which competition should determine the winner

One of the debates about the Ballon d’Or is whether the winner of the award must have won the Champions League.

It has been ongoing for years, but when Rodri defeated Vinicius Junior to win the award last year, it became a big topic.

The midfielder had won the Premier League with Manchester City and Euro 2024 with the Spanish national team as one of its best players.

But Vini had won the Champions League with Real Madrid and was one of the best players in the team, playing in many matches.

Most people think the winner of the Champions League should certainly win the award, and Cristiano Ronaldo faced some stick recently when he claimed the winner should be someone who won the Champions League.

Fans also debated whether the player who won it should have contributed to his team by scoring many goals and providing several assists, which was also a part of the Vini-Rodri debate. 

However, France Football nominates players based on individual performance and team success in major competitions, not just the Champions League, so there is no dependency on the UCL.

Who are this year’s favourites?

As in most of the previous years, this year’s Ballon d’Or winner is difficult to call, but these are the top five favourites, in no particular order, at the moment and why they could win.

Kylian Mbappe, Real Madrid

Mbappe’s first season at Real Madrid was not as good as planned. They were beaten multiple times by Barcelona this season and lost out on winning a major honour. He won just the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, but he scored 43 goals in his first season in Spain after finding his feet at the club.

However, having failed to win a major competition for club and country, he would feel this is not his year. Perhaps, with the arrival of Xabi Alonso, he could feel he could win the award next term.

Mohamed Salah, Liverpool

No player’s performance sold as many Liverpool tickets as Mohamed Salah's did this season, with the fantastic Egyptian helping the Reds win the Premier League title in Arne Slot’s first season.

After much delay, Liverpool has finally handed the attacker a new deal, and he will probably win the Ballon d’Or before he leaves them.

However, he is a contender this year for scoring 36 goals and providing 24 assists in all competitions for the Reds, while winning the EPL title for a second time.

Raphinha, Barcelona

Last summer, Raphinha was linked with a move away from Barcelona as they wanted to sign Nico Williams, but he stayed.

That decision was a great one because he has gone on to have the most successful season of his career as a player.

The Brazilian won La Liga, Copa del Rey & Supercopa de Espana, scoring 39 goals and providing 25 assists in all competitions for Barca.

If he does not win the Ballon d’Or it will simply be because Barcelona failed to win the Champions League.

Lamine Yamal, Barcelona

Teenage sensation Yamal has had one of the best seasons of his life in Barca this term, and he seemed set to win the award despite not winning the Champions League.

Yamal is a sensational performer who knows how to make life hell for defenders. The Spaniard has won La Liga, Copa del Rey, and Supercopa de Espana.

He also provided 26 assists and scored 19 goals in all competition, to make him one of the main contenders for the award.

However, not winning the Champions League or the Nations League with Spain could impact his chances.

Ousmane Dembele, PSG

It has been refreshing to see Dembele go from a Barcelona flop to one of the best players in the world at PSG, but could this be his year?

His form took on a new dimension at the start of 2025 and he went on to lead PSG to their first ever Champions League title.

He also won the Ligue 1, Coupe de France & Trophee des Champions, scoring 35 times and providing 15 assists to make him an irresistible pick for the Ballon d’Or.

More fans and neutrals bought PSG tickets because they wanted to watch him play, and these fans would certainly vote for him to win the award if they could.