Ousmane Dembélé joins elite club with Messi and Ronaldo after winning FIFA The Best and Ballon d’Or in 2025
Ousmane Dembélé was awarded FIFA The Best in 2025, capping off a dream season in which he also claimed the Ballon d’Or and lifted the UEFA Champions League trophy. After securing the two most prestigious individual honors in world soccer, the Paris Saint-Germain star has now joined an elite club alongside legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
After dominating domestic competition in France, Dembélé played a decisive role on the continental stage, helping PSG win the Champions League and reach the FIFA Club World Cup final. With 35 goals and 16 assists in 53 appearances, “The Mosquito” was one of the standout performers of the season, edging out Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé in voting for both awards.
By sweeping the Ballon d’Or and FIFA The Best in the same calendar year, Dembélé became the fourth player to achieve the feat. The only others to do so are Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modrić, and Lionel Messi, placing the French winger among the most exclusive company in the modern era.
Since 2010, France Football and FIFA briefly unified their criteria to present the FIFA Ballon d’Or as a single award recognizing the world’s best player. That partnership ended in 2016, after which the Ballon d’Or and FIFA The Best became separate honors again, often aligning in their winners, but occasionally producing different outcomes.
Cristiano Ronaldo was the first player to win both awards in the same year, accomplishing the feat in back-to-back seasons. In 2016, he won the Champions League and the European Championship with Portugal, and in 2017, he repeated the double after claiming the Champions League and La Liga with Real Madrid.
Modrić followed in 2018 after winning the Champions League with Real Madrid and leading Croatia to a runner-up finish at the World Cup. Lionel Messi later joined the list in 2019, thanks to his Golden Boot-winning season and La Liga title, and again in 2023, largely driven by Argentina’s 2022 World Cup triumph.
Who failed to claim both awards?
The Ballon d’Or and FIFA The Best are decided using different voting systems. The Ballon d’Or is determined by journalists, while FIFA The Best includes votes from national team captains, coaches, and fans worldwide. While the results often align, several seasons have produced split decisions.
In 2020, FIFA awarded The Best to Robert Lewandowski, while the Ballon d’Or was not awarded at all due to the pandemic, denying the Polish striker a potential historic sweep. A year later, Messi won the Ballon d’Or, while Lewandowski claimed FIFA The Best, sparking widespread debate.
In 2022, Messi won FIFA The Best, while Karim Benzema claimed the Ballon d’Or. Most recently, in 2024, Rodri secured the Ballon d’Or, while Vinícius Júnior was named FIFA The Best in another controversial split. Dembélé has now ended that trend in 2025, emerging as the consensus choice for the world’s best player.