2025 Ballon d’Or power rankings: Mbappe & Kane plummet after Champions League heartache
Rodri won this year’s Ballon d’Or after an exceptional 2024 for Manchester City and Spain, becoming only the third player not named Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to claim France Football’s prestigious golden ball since 2007.
But who will follow in Rodri’s footsteps next year? We know for certain that the midfielder won’t be retaining the honour, given his ACL injury will keep him out of action until next season.
With one eye on the season so far, and another eye on how we realistically expect things to play out from here, here’s our early edition of the 2025 Ballon d’Or power rankings. Keep checking back as we’ll be keeping this one updated throughout the year.
10. Declan Rice (NEW)
Following his two masterful performances against Real Madrid, we had to give Rice an inclusion on this list.
The 26-year-old scored not one but two sublime free-kicks during the first leg against Madrid and he dominated the midfield battle in the reverse fixture too.
Arsenal will probably have to win the Champions League in order for any of their players to get close to the Ballon d’Or podium, but Rice will surely be among the nominees, regardless of what happens from this point.
9. Harry Kane (-5)
Kane picked up the 2024 Gerd Muller Trophy, shared with Kylian Mbappe, for the player with the most goals last season – 52 for club and country.
Surprisingly enough, no player has claimed both the Ballon d’Or and that award since it was introduced by France Football in 2021, but there’s a rich history of the European Golden Shoe winner – from Lionel Messi to Cristiano Ronaldo to Karim Benzema – doing so.
2025 will surely be the year that Kane’s trophy curse is put to bed, with Bayern boasting a six-point lead over reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen.
However, his chances of winning the Ballon d’Or were probably put to an end after Bayern bowed out of the Champions League against Inter.
Kane has 23 goals in the Bundesliga and a further 11 in the Champions League, but the lack of European silverware could cost him in the Ballon d’Or, despite his excellent scoring numbers.
8. Kylian Mbappe (-6)
The Frenchman’s chances of winning the Ballon d’Or were dealt a fatal blow after Real Madrid bowed out of the Champions League.
For Mbappe to win it from this point, Carlo Ancelotti’s side will likely have to leapfrog Barcelona in La Liga, along with winning the Club World Cup over the summer.
While the 26-year-old can no longer win the Champions League, it’s important to stress that his numbers have still been seriously impressive during his debut season in Spain.
Having averaged a goal contribution every 109.7 minutes, he comfortably ranks among the most productive players in Europe.
7. Lautaro Martinez (NEW)
Top of Serie A and into the Champions League semi-final, Inter have quietly gone under the radar this season.
While Martinez isn’t having his best campaign in terms of scoring, there can be no doubt that he’s Inter’s main talisman.
The 27-year-old scored in both legs against Bayern Munich to knock them out of the Champions League and if he can do the same to Barcelona, he’ll shoot up this list for sure.
6. Pedri (+3)
“Nobody deserves the Ballon d’Or more than Pedri, everyone knows what kind of a player he is,” says Gavi.
That’s nice of him. We don’t entirely agree, but Pedri has been back to his very best in 2024-25 and is certainly worthy of consideration.
Rodri’s win last year brought an end to the Ballon d’Or’s era of flashy forwards and showed that an unheralded midfielder can be recognised for the very top prize, but we can’t see it happening two years in a row.
There was even a Rodri-esque reminder of Pedri’s importance in his absence – Flick’s side looked uncharacteristically dysfunctional until he was introduced in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund.
He might well be their most important player. But fair or not, if Barcelona go all the way you imagine some of their other individuals will receive more attention.
5. Robert Lewandowski (+3)
Robbed of a rightful Ballon d’Or when it was cancelled in 2020 – the year he fired Bayern to a treble with 55 goals in all competitions – there is surely no player of this generation more deserving of a golden ball (that doesn’t already have one).
He recently surpassed Gerd Muller to become the third all-time top goalscorer in Europe’s five major leagues, behind only Messi and Ronaldo.
Forget sentiment or a lifetime achievement charity award, Lewandowski remains one of Europe’s most reliable goalscorers at the age of 36. Only one player has scored more goals across Europe’s five major leagues so far this season.
The veteran has had his limelight taken by a couple of his fellow forwards recently, but he could still make his case by scoring important goals in Barca’s treble chase.
READ: 7 insane records Robert Lewandowski has broken for Barcelona this season
4. Lamine Yamal (+3)
Tremendously exciting in his breakthrough season at Barcelona as a 16-year-old, Yamal’s ascent has been as astonishing as it is rapid.
He turned 17 years old just days before the Euro 2024 final and was one of the best players at the tournament, by any measure, regardless of age.
And he’s since continued that form into the 2024-25 campaign.
There were serious questions over whether cash-strapped Barcelona would be able to compete with this new generation of Real Madrid Galacticos, but it turns out they didn’t need to buy one of the greatest talents in the world – just like Lionel Messi, he’s straight out of La Masia and they’ve developed him themselves.
As of writing, he’s the only player in Europe’s top five leagues to have completed more than 100 successful dribbles and with 35 goal contributions, he’s had the end product to back up his masterful performances.
3. Mohamed Salah (=)
Salah had been the obvious frontrunner for the majority of 2024-25, having been Europe’s outstanding player this season.
But football is a cruel, brutal game and his hopes of becoming only the second African to win the Ballon d’Or were dealt a potentially fatal blow after Liverpool’s Champions League elimination, having produced two fairly meek displays against PSG.
All hope is not lost. Last year’s winner Rodri went out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage on penalties. He did admittedly then go and win Euro 2024, and there’s no major international tournament this time around.
Salah should still, at the very least, have a place on the podium after his exceptional Premier League campaign. Top for both goals (27) and assists (18) in Europe’s five major leagues is frankly outrageous. Peak Messi would be proud of these numbers.
Speaking of Messi, the Argentinian was the last man to lift the Ballon d’Or after failing to win the Champions League or an international tournament. So there’s precedent, from 2019, when Messi won his sixth Golden Ball after notching 36 goals and 13 assists in Barcelona’s La Liga title win.
Salah is on course for a similar kind of season, in another year with no international tournaments. Liverpool won the Champions League in 2019 without any one outstanding candidate (Virgil Van Dijk narrowly finished runner-up to Messi) – leaving Salah to hope there’ll be a similar situation this time around.
The fact that Real Madrid are now out of the Champions League could be a blessing for Salah’s Ballon d’Or hopes as it essentially rules out the likes of Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.
If Arsenal or Inter win it, Salah could definitely be back in the mix.
READ: The 15 players who have made the Ballon d’Or podium ahead of Salah since 2018
2. Ousmane Dembele (↑4)
Having already wrapped up the Ligue 1 title, Dembele will now have his full focus on Champions League glory.
Luis Enrique’s side are arguably the best team to watch in Europe right now and Dembele continues to dazzle us every week.
The France international has been astonishingly prolific since the turn of the year and capped off his stellar run of form with a couple of assists against Aston Villa in the UCL quarter finals.
PSG are the only unbeaten side in Europe’s five major leagues and arguably look the most formidable of the four remaining teams in the Champions League. And there’s no questioning who’s their standout man.
1. Raphinha (=)
Who (apart from Leeds United fans) would have expected to see Raphinha up here?
The frontrunner for this year’s Ballon d’Or, the Brazilian has been incredible for Barcelona this season.
He’s second only to Serhou Guirassy in the Champions League scoring charts with 12 goals and he’s also provided an impressive seven assists in the competition too.
Raphinha has now matched Messi’s best-ever numbers for a Champions League campaign and is only two goals or assists from matching Ronaldo’s all-time record.
Only Salah has notched more goal contributions this season, but Salah isn’t in the Champions League any more.
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