What does it mean to reward individualism in a team sport when success is based on contributions from everyone? Every year, the Ballon d’Or, soccer’s most coveted individual prize, is awarded to a player who is seen to have performed remarkably and elevated their team’s performance. Rewarding individualism in a team sport, however, has naturally sparked a debate of whether the award is a truly accurate indicator of the greatest player of the year in a sport that heavily banks on everyone’s contribution, or if it is just an individual popularity contest that simply serves as an ego boost for players. For the 2024-25 year, the Ballon d’Or was awarded to the French attacker Ousmane Dembele. The race was considered one of the most competitive since the Messi-Ronaldo era, where one of the two of them won it for 10 straight years. And for Dembele to have come out on top would have been considered a far-fetched dream even two years ago.
Dembele has witnessed considerable fluctuation in his performance throughout his career. Coming through the ranks at Stade Rennes, he moved to talent-farming Borussia Dortmund at the age of 18. He caught everyone’s eye with a breakout in the 2016-17 season of six goals and 12 assists, as well as being named in the Bundesliga team of the season and winning the league’s Rookie of the Season award. With his potential brilliance looming large, Barcelona signed him the following year for a stellar 148 million euros, the second-highest transfer fee in history at the time, only behind Neymar’s 222 million move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). However, his time at Barcelona was injury-plagued and performances far below the promise he had shown when the club bought him, and he soon fell out of favor. Then, in 2023, he moved to the French Giant PSG just as they were trying to reinvent themselves and stop paying obscene amounts of money for big-name stars that underperformed.
As Dembele transferred in, Neymar and Messi transferred out to Al-Hilal and Inter Miami, respectively, and in the following season, Mbappe also left for Real Madrid. He had a slow start, with only 17 out of 34 league starts in his opening campaign in the 23-24 season. He quickly ramped up from there, and as the big names kept leaving, Dembele played a bigger role and front-running PSG’s success. This year, while he did not have the most eye-catching start to the season, he went on a three-month run over winter where he was unstoppable, credited mainly to the central forward role he was moved into. Additionally, in the playoffs of the Champions League, the most prestigious tournament in club soccer, he scored important goals against Liverpool and later on against Arsenal: two in-form teams that were both strong title contenders.
There were many players who deserved the award, but obviously not all of them can get it. And in a nomination determined primarily by qualitative means, the margins of difference are small and sometimes hard to define and justify. So while Dembele’s performance surely deserved the award, he was not the only correct choice. One key determining factor for Dembele beating out the field could have been winning the Champions League, since the title holds considerable weight. In terms of domestic success, PSG were never going to get challenged in Ligue 1, considered the lowest quality league among the top five in Europe. So, that could not really be used as a metric, while sometimes it can in other leagues like the English Premier League.
Some of the other worthy candidates were Lamine Yamal, who is considered to have placed second in the standings; however, many felt that at 18, it was probably too early to crown him the best in the world. Another was Mohamed Salah. If winning the Champions League did not play as huge a role in determining the winner as it did, Salah, with a tally of 47 Premier League goal involvements at age 33, would have been as dramatic a narrative as Dembele.
In the end, irrespective of how fair or accurate the metrics for choosing a Ballon d’Or winner truly are, Dembele’s story stands out for what it represents. From being labeled injury-prone and a wasted talent to reinventing himself as the genius spearheading PSG’s attack, his journey is an inspiration worth celebrating.