Ballon d'Or 2025 Highlights: Dembele Pips Yamal To Win Men's Top Prize; Bonmati Bags Hat-Trick Of Feminin Awards

Greetings and welcome everyone. The fateful night of the Ballon d'Or 2025 awards is here. Stay with us as we bring to you the rankings, build-up and latest updates from the biggest football awards ceremony on the planet.

The awards ceremony will officially begin at 12:30am IST, while the rankings are being released before that. Ballon d'Or 2025 will be live streamed on the SonyLIV app and website in India. It will be telecast on the Sony Sports Network TV channels in the country.

The likes of Harry Kane, Vinicius Junior and Erling Haaland have all fallen out of contention as they are in the bottom 20 of the 30-strong men's nominees list. Here is the list of the 10 who remain (in no particular order):

Ousmane Dembele (France and PSG); Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy and Manchester City); Achraf Hakimi (Morocco and PSG); Kylian Mbappe (France and Real Madrid); Nuno Mendes (Portugal and PSG); Cole Palmer (Chelsea and England); Raphinha (Brazil and Barcelona); Mohamed Salah (Egypt and Liverpool); Vitinha (Portugal and PSG) and Lamine Yamal (Spain and Barcelona)

And here are the 10 players still in contention for the Ballon d'Or Feminin, that is the women's top prize:

Lucy Bronze (England and Chelsea); Aitana Bonmati (Spain and Barcelona); Mariona Caldentey (Spain and Arsenal); Patricia Guijarro (Spain and Barcelona; Hannah Hampton (England and Chelsea); Chloe Kelly (England and Arsenal); Ewa Pajor (Poland and Barcelona); Alexia Putellas (Spain and Barcelona); Alessia Russo (England and Arsenal); Leah Williamson (England and Arsenal)

Lionel Messi was never in contention for Ballon d'Or 2025, as he was not part of the nominee list. The Argentine legend has won the award a record eight times. Just like him, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is also not in the running. The Al-Nassr forward has claimed the prize five times.

The glittering red carpet arrivals draw to a close and the awards ceremony officially begins. While nominees like Lamine Yamal are in attendance at Theatre du Chetelet, so are legends of generations past like Andres Iniesta, Ronaldinho and Luis Figo.

The first of 13 awards is given to surprise, surprise, Lamine Yamal for being adjudged the best under-21 men's player in the world, AKA the men's Kopa trophy. The women's prize goes to Spain and Barcelona midfielder Vicky Lopez.

Will Yamal bag another, grander award later in the night? We shall find out.

England women's head coach Sarina Wiegman wins the women's Johan Cruyff Trophy for being the best coach in the women's game. The Dutch manager makes a rousing call to continue the fight against misogyny and racism, while accepting the award.

It is Paris Saint-Germain's decorated manager Luis Enrique who wins the men's Johan Cruyff Trophy. Enrique led PSG to a much celebrated treble last season, which included their first-ever Champions League crown. He is not in Paris to collect the award, as his team are currently in action against Marseille for the 110th iteration of Le Classique.

Next, the world's best goalkeepers are honoured with the Yashin Trophy (men and women). This is the first time the award is being given for the women's game, and it is a historic moment for England custodian Hannah Hampton, who wins it. She pays tribute to former Liverpool women manager Matt Beard, who has passed away at the age of 47.

The men's award is won by Manchester City and Italy goalie Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Barcelona's Polish striker Ewa Pajor wins the women's award and Arsenal's ex-Sporting CP forward Viktor Gyokeres wins the men's award for being the top scoring footballers (for clubs and national teams) in 2024-25. Pajor netted 43 goals in 45 games for Barca in her first season since moving from Wolfsburg, while Gyokeres scored 54 goals in 52 matches for Sporting.

Arsenal, who won the Champions League trophy in 2024-25, claim the Women's Club of the Year Trophy. The men's club honours expectedly go to Paris Saint-Germain, who completed the Champions League, Ligue 1, French Cup treble last term.

Given to a player who has made significant contributions to social initiatives and humanitarian causes, the Socrates Award goes to the Xana Foundation which focuses on enabling vital support to children and young people with life-threatening illnesses. The foundation was kick-started by PSG boss Luis Enrique after the tragic death of his daughter Xana, aged nine, in 2019 due to a rare form of bone cancer.

And we are now very close to finding out the Ballon d'Or award winners. First, the women's best player. It is between two-time winner Aitana Bonmati and Arsenal's Mariona Caldentey.

It's a hat-trick for Aitana Bonmati! The Spain and Barcelona midfielder follows up her 2023 and 2024 trophies with a third straight one this time. Already a certified legend, Bonmati becomes the first player to win Ballon d'Or Feminin three consecutive times. The only other players to win three Ballon d’Ors in a row are Lionel Messi and Michel Platini. 

Spanish titan Andres Iniesta was called upon to present the Ballon d'Or Feminin, and for the men's top prize, it is another all-time great in the form of Ronaldinho. The Brazilian, who had himself bagged the honour in 2005, is a huge crowd favourite as he draws big cheers.

It's between Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembele. We are moments away from the announcement...

Ronaldinho opens the envelope, and ends the suspense with a sole word: Dembele. The crowd goes wild as their home star ascends the stage to accept the award, for the first time in his career.

A touching moment as Dembele thanks his mother for the way she has supported him throughout, fighting tears. Emcee Kate Scott invites his mother on stage, and the duo break into an embrace. Lovely.