hattrick

Paris Saint-Germain’s French international forward Ousmane Dembele has been named the men’s Ballon d’Or winner for 2025, with Barcelona’s Spanish international Aitana Bonmati claiming the women’s title for the third consecutive year.

The pair were awarded the trophies, recognised as the most prestigious individual prizes in football, at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France, on Monday.

Dembele helped PSG to its first Champions League title in May, and saw off strong competition from Barcelona starlet Lamine Yamal, who helped the Spanish club to the La Liga title year, immediately off the back of his starring role for Spain in their Euro 2025 triumph.

There was better news for fellow Barca forward Bonmati, however, as she became the third person, behind former French international Michel Platini and Argentina legend Lionel Messi, to claim a hat-trick of titles.

Dembele succeeded Manchester City midfielder Rodri to become the sixth Frenchman to win it after Raymond Kopa, Platini, Jean-Pierre Papin, Zinedine Zidane and Karim Benzema.

Bonmati won ahead of her Spain teammate Mariona Caldentey.

Dembele tops Yamal for club if not country

The award capped a remarkable turn of fortune for Dembele, who at one point last season was snubbed by PSG coach Luis Enrique for disciplinary reasons. But once repositioned as a No 9, he became a scoring machine and was inspirational in PSG’s historic Champions League campaign. The French club also completed a quadruple last season.

Dembele was praised after the Champions League final for the way he contributed to PSG’s pressing and his ability to defend during the 5-0 rout of Inter Milan. He delivered 35 goals and 16 assists in 53 official matches last season, and was involved in 14 goals (eight goals, six assists) in the Champions League in 15 appearances.

Dembele received the Ballon d’Or from former winner Ronaldinho and teared up during his acceptance speech, in which he asked his mother to join him on the stage.

“It’s incredible to win a trophy like this,” he said in French. “I worked for the team to help win PSG’s first Champions League. To then be rewarded with an individual trophy like the Ballon d’Or is truly exceptional.”

Barca forward Yamal, who turned 18 in July, also helped Barcelona to win the Copa del Rey last season, as well as the Spanish top flight, and to reach the Champions League semifinals. Yamal was given the Kopa award for the best under-21 player for the second straight year.

“I need to keep on working to win other awards in the future,” Yamal said through a translator.

Dembele was injured, but able to attend the ceremony in Paris, while his team lost at Marseille 1-0 in the French league. He was one of nine PSG players nominated for the men’s award, including goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, forward Desire Doue, who scored twice in the Champions League final, and winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Bonmati rises from Spain defeat to claim third straight Ballon d’Or

Although Bonmati lost to England in a penalty shootout in the Women’s European Championship final last summer, she was named the best player of the tournament, which she began just days after being hospitalised for viral meningitis.

Bonmati’s spot kick in the shootout was one of two saved by England’s Hannah Hampton, who was voted the best women’s goalkeeper.

“Third time in a row here, and I still can’t believe it,” Bonmati said. “I owe Barcelona everything. This is the club of my life.”

She won a domestic treble with Barcelona and also reached the Champions League final.

Barcelona has won the last five women’s awards, but it was expected that an Englishwoman would win for the first time. England won the Euros, and Arsenal took the Women’s Champions League. But with five England players among the women’s top 10 nominees, the highest placed was Alessia Russo at third.

Other trophies at Ballon d’Or awards

Barcelona forward Vicky Lopez won the women’s Kopa trophy, and Sarina Wiegman, who led England to European victory, took the Johan Cruyff award for best women’s coach. On a great night for PSG, Luis Enrique won in the men’s category.

PSG was voted the best men’s club, and Donnarumma received the Lev Yashin award for best goalkeeper. Donnarumma, whose shot-stopping in the knockout stages proved crucial to PSG’s success, left for Manchester City during the offseason. Hampton was crowned the best women’s goalkeeper.

The men’s and women’s Gerd Müller trophies for the top scorers went to Barcelona’s Ewa Pajor and Viktor Gyokeres, who joined Arsenal this summer from Sporting Portugal after a prolific season.

Liam Livingstone continued his fine form in The Hundred with a strong all-round display – picking up 2-26 with the ball before scoring an unbeaten 45 from 20 balls to guide Birmingham Phoenix to a seven-wicket win over London Spirt.

Chasing 127, Joe Clarke struck a 25-ball 54 to give the Phoenix a solid platform and captain Livingstone finished the job with a knock that included five sixes and a four.

The 32-year-old, who also struck an unbeaten 69 in the Phoenix’s win against two-time defending champions Oval Invincibles on Tuesday, now has the most runs in this season’s Hundred with 211.

The knock further strengthens Livingstone’s reputation as one of the best finishers in The Hundred. He has scored 543 runs across 17 innings at an impressive average of 49.36 and a blistering strike-rate of 166 in chases.

However, he was left out of the England squads that were announced for the series against South Africa and Ireland on Friday.

The Phoenix skipper also picked up the wickets of Spirit opener David Warner and Ollie Pope as the Phoenix bowlers had delivered a masterclass in death bowling to restrict the Spirit to 126-6 after deciding to bowl first.

“It is a big win for us, we needed it,” said Livingstone after the game.

“We are up against it in this tournament, we know we are, but all we can do is win games and try to improve our run-rate, then we’ll see where we are.”

The tone was set early when Trent Boult sent back Spirit opener Jamie Smith for a duck and though Kane Williamson offered some resistance with a 29-ball 33, the Phoenix never let the momentum slip away.

Remarkably, they did not concede a single boundary in the final 15 deliveries as Boult and Adam Milne tightened the screws to set the stage for the win.

Their second win of the season sees the Phoenix leapfrog the Spirit to sixth place on a superior net run-rate. With eight points, they are also level with the Manchester Originals and Southern Brave.

The majority of Andy Farrell’s Test squad is more or less settled, but there were some guys out there playing for big stakes.

Hugo Keenan needed a reassuring display at full-back given that Blair Kinghorn will miss the first Test in Brisbane. And he delivered. Jac Morgan was competing for the open-side jersey that’s flitted between himself, Josh van der Flier and Tom Curry. Morgan was influential.

With the news coming through about Ringrose, Huw Jones picked a good night to have a big game. His partnership with Sione Tuipulotu was convincing.

By the time Farrell entered the fray the game was over as a contest, but he looked good all the same, although there are bigger examinations to come, of course.

After so many slow starts, the Lions must have craved a fast one – and they made it happen.

Hansen was good in the air, Morgan was good on the floor and Keenan was particularly good when taking a quick line-out throw that was at the heart of the first try, the brilliant Jones giving the pass for Van der Merwe to score.

Within a blink of an eye, White had taken advantage of a giant amount of space at the side of a ruck and he ran away to the posts. Smith’s conversion made it 12-0. The high hopes some might have had for the AUNZ side started to disappear into the night sky above the Adelaide Oval at that point.

The Lions were slick and sharp, the best they’ve been on tour. Ruthless, too. Pollock might have been held up in the corner, but it didn’t really matter. Soon enough, Tuipulotu and Smith were putting Van der Merwe away for the big man’s second try of the night.

More good stuff from Jones and more reminders of what a world-class attacker he is. If the Lions get bad news on Ringrose then what a player they have in Jones, who’s been getting better and better since returning from injury.