2025 Men’s Ballon d’Or Power Rankings: Chelsea's Cole Palmer fights PSG duo and Barcelona's Lamine Yamal, what about Mohamed Salah and Kylian Mbappe
Updated 06/08/2025 at 15:50 GMT+1
Hello and welcome to the fourth edition of TNT Sports' 2025 Men's Ballon d'Or Power Rankings. Each week we will be bringing you updates on both the men's and women's race to win the prestigious award later this year. Join us to find out how the favourites stack up in each edition of the rankings and to see who is our leader for the greatest individual award in football.
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The 2025 men's Ballon d'Or race is heating up, particularly after Chelsea stunned European champions PSG to claim the Club World Cup last month.
PSG's players were dominating the top of the odds list but will the Club World Cup defeat, particularly the manner of it, impact voters?
In the men’s award last year, Manchester City and Spain star Rodri triumphed over Real Madrid and Brazil forward Vinicius Junior, with England’s Jude Bellingham coming in third.
But what about this year? With no major international football apart from the CONCACAF Gold Cup, votes instead will be based off club performances for the most part. That's where the Club World Cup comes in.
As a reminder, the voting period has been changed to reflect performances across the past season of football rather than the calendar year.
So, even though the ceremony will take place on September 22, it will reflect the 2024-25 season.
Read on to see the latest edition of the Power Rankings.
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10 – Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)
Real Madrid, who won the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League, exited last season's iteration at the quarter-final stage and finished second in La Liga behind Barcelona.
However, despite some noise about his performances, Kylian Mbappe finished his first season in Spain with a mammoth 42 goals in all competitions, with four assists to boot.
That Madrid did not win either the league or the Champions League this season means it is hard to see the Frenchman making a real push for individual honours this season. Particularly because France failed to win the UEFA Nations League, losing in the semi-final to Spain.
Plus, Madrid were dismantled by PSG in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup.
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Highlights: Mbappe hat-trick puts City to the sword as Real progress
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9 – Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG)
No goalkeeper has won the Ballon d’Or since Lev Yashin in 1963, still the only time a shot-stopper has won the award. Will Gianluigi Donnarumma be the one who bucks that trend?
No, no he will not.
As we will discuss below, whilst performances over the season are important for Ballon d’Or voting, it has also been clear over the past few years how important moments and symbolism are since Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo moved outside of Europe.
To that end, a goalkeeper would have to have had a series of truly astonishing performances in both the Champions League and an international tournament. And even then, they could still be overlooked. Like the rest of his PSG team-mates on this list, he will take a hit for the Club World Cup, particularly considering the Ballon d'Or voting criteria notes fair play as one of the criteria.
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Watch PSG hero Donnarumma's best saves from both semi-final legs against Arsenal
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8 – Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
At one point this season, Salah looked like a great bet to win the Ballon d’Or, becoming just the second African player to win the award since George Weah in 1995. Unfortunately for Salah, whilst Liverpool did win the Premier League title, they were knocked out of the Champions League by PSG in the last 16.
On top of that, his own form tailed off, and he did not manage to equal Thierry Henry’s legendary feat of 20+ goals and 20+ assists in one single Premier League season, even if no one in Europe can top his 47 league goal contributions. The Egyptian superstar will most likely have to wait to win the award he has admitted he wants.
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Salah hopes ‘incredible season’ helps Ballon d’Or chances - ‘Would mean a lot to me’
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7 – Achraf Hakimi (PSG)
Achraf Hakimi ended his season with nine goals and 12 assists in all competitions, a truly astonishing return for a full-back, albeit an extremely attacking one. Similar to another player we will talk about in a short while, Hakimi is so much more than a full-back; he completely transcends the position.
However, are voters, and indeed the public, ready for a full-back to win the Ballon d’Or?
Similar to goalkeepers, the answer is probably no. However, scoring goals in big games will always help. He did that in the Champions League final, albeit the Club World Cup counts against him.
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‘Casual!’ – Hakimi gives PSG the lead against Inter
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6 - Nuno Mendes (PSG)
Mendes did not quite match up to Hakimi in terms of numbers, but he was equally critical to PSG’s historic treble. What he does have over Hakimi for this period in voting is an international triumph, thanks to Portugal winning the UEFA Nations League.
Mendes was equally important for Portugal as he was for PSG, notably shutting down Lamine Yamal in the final of the Nations League against Spain. But as with Hakimi, can a full-back win? It seems unlikely, particularly after Chelsea targeted his side in the Club World Cup final.
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Mendes completes ‘hat-trick of fantastic goals’ as PSG put gloss on sublime display
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5 – Raphinha (Barcelona)
The rebirth of Raphinha has been astonishing - 34 goals and 22 assists in all competitions. Those are bonkers numbers no matter who you measure up against. In any other year, you would have to think that he would be the front-runner.
But similar to what we have discussed before, does Raphinha have those moments that you need? Yes, he scored at the end of the second leg against Inter, but that might not be remembered in the same way given the Italian side went on to win the semi-final.
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Highlights: Lewandowski scores brace, Raphinha and Yamal also net in dominant Barca win
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4 – Ousmane Dembele (PSG)
The battle for the top has to be between PSG players, and really it will probably go back and forth. Because of the kind of player he is and the tendency among footballing society to lean towards attackers and goalscorers, Dembele seems like the obvious front-runner.
After all, 33 goals and 13 assists is a record anyone would be envious of.
Dembele is right there, but it does hurt him that France did not win the Nations League. Indeed in the semi-finals, three of France’s four goals came after he was taken off. Scoring against Real Madrid in the semi-final of the Club World Cup helped, but bar one chance that was saved by Rob Sanchez, he was anonymous in the final.
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Highlights: Dembele winner sees PSG overcome Arsenal in first leg
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3 - Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
A massive riser out of nowhere, Palmer wasn't previously on this list but, hear us out.
The Ballon d'Or inherently is a 'moments award' as we have discussed before. In two finals at the end of the season, Palmer had two astonishing games, particularly against PSG. For all the talk before the final about how Chelsea would cope with PSG, Palmer dismantled the European champions, they had absolutely no answer for his wizardry.
Is winning the Conference League and Club World Cup enough for voters? It's going to be fascinating to find out.
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Highlights: Palmer inspires turnaround as Chelsea create European history
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2 – Vitinha (PSG)
Rodri walked, so Vitinha could run.
Where Rodri was the anchor that held Manchester City and Spain together, Vitinha is the heartbeat of PSG and Portugal. Without him, the other organs simply cannot function.
The central midfielder’s rise is nothing short of outstanding and what is perhaps most impressive is that he went from strength to strength as the season went on, as the games got harder.
En route to the final, PSG took out three of the top seven in England as well as beating the Italian champions in the final in record style. Vitinha might not have been the best player in every single game, but in the vast majority of them, he was in the top two or three players on the pitch.
Vitinha followed it up with a starring role as Portugal edged Spain to win the UEFA Nations League, scoring in the shoot-out to continue his golden summer. The Club World Cup final sees him knocked off top spot, particularly given the way Chelsea went after him when he dropped into that left centre-back role, but we cannot forget Portugal's Nations League triumph in this, that's why he remains top of the PSG list. For now.
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Watch the incredible movement of Vitinha for PSG third
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1 – Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
Yes, Yamal had a poor Nations League and yes, Barcelona did not win the Champions League, or even reach the final. But despite this, Barcelona won La Liga and the Copa del Rey, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League, and Yamal was at the heart of it. The teenager finished with 18 goals and 21 assists across all competitions.
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Highlights: Yamal stars as Barca and Inter play out six-goal thriller
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It is a tough decision between Yamal, Pedri and Raphinha but the fact that you could make a genuine argument for a 17-year-old (now 18) being the best player in one of the two or three best teams in Europe is astonishing.
Again, when we talk about moments, his performances against Inter will live long in the memory for everyone, including voters. This may change over the summer, but in light of PSG's failure, he's our new No. 1.
When are the Ballon d'Or nominees announced?
Following the conclusion of the Club World Cup, the Ballon d’Or committee met at the Hotel de Crillon in Paris to discuss and decide the nominees for the men’s award.
Those names will be made public on 7 August, when the voting panel can begin to decide who they may choose as the world’s best player.
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