2025 Ballon d’Or power rankings: Is Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal now the frontrunner?
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. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (=)
There’s a chance that Kvaratskhelia could end the 2024-25 season with two league titles and a Champions League medal.
He played the first half of the campaign with Napoli, having made 17 league appearances for Antonio Conte’s side until he left in January.
Given that Napoli currently top Serie A, Kvaratskhelia will be eligible for a medal, despite no longer playing for them.
He then made the switch to PSG and has continued to dazzle. He’s already won the Ligue 1 title and has played a key role in PSG reaching the Champions League final.
It seems unlikely that the 24-year-old will win the Ballon d’Or, but he’s certainly worthy of a nomination.
9. Harry Kane (=)
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.
The England skipper finally ended his trophy curse this year as he fired Bayern Munich to their 34th league title.
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 25 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 (=)
The Frenchman’s chances of winning the Ballon d’Or were dealt a fatal blow after Real Madrid bowed out of the Champions League.
Scoring a hat-trick in an El Clasico defeat that killed Los Blancos’ hopes of retaining their La Liga crown would’ve given Mbappe flashbacks to notching three in the last World Cup final and not getting his hands on the trophy.
Mbappe is now within touching distance of a first European Golden Shoe, while a top five placing isn’t out of the question if he produces the goods at this summer’s Club World Cup. But there’s no chance Real Madrid’s latest Galactico gets his hands on the Ballon d’Or this year.
7. Robert Lewandowski (=)
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 Salah and Mbappe have scored more goals across Europe’s five major leagues so far this season.
READ: 7 insane records Robert Lewandowski has broken for Barcelona this season
6. Pedri (=)
“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.
Fair or not, if a Barcelona player does win the Ballon d’Or this year, you’d imagine some of their other individuals will receive more attention.
5. Lautaro Martinez (=)
Having made two of the last three Champions League finals, Inter look like a force to be reckoned with.
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 then scored against Barcelona in the semifinal.
Domestically, they still have some work to do if they want to catch Napoli, but if Martinez makes the difference in the Champions League final, he’ll properly enter the conversation.
4. Raphinha (-2)
The Brazilian would’ve been the clear frontrunner were it not for Inter’s injury-time equaliser – and subsequent victory – in the Champions League semis.
Or if Yamal had tucked away either of the presentable chances he’d served up – which would’ve seen Raphinha notch one more assist and move ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo’s all-time record for goal contributions in a European campaign.
As things are, the former Leeds United forward has tied Ronaldo’s record – but that loses its lustre a little when you know he won’t be getting his hands on the trophy.
Raphinha’s numbers have been off the charts this season. And he’s still won a domestic double (treble if you count the Super Cup). He’s taken his game up another level and would be worthy of a place on the podium, but competition is particularly fierce this year.
3. Mohamed Salah (+1)
Liverpool’s Egyptian King has slowed down at the worst moment.
He’s notched just one goal and one assist in his last nine appearances for the Reds, a run that saw Liverpool suffer a shock defeat to Newcastle United in the League Cup final and exit the Champions League at the Round of 16 stage.
Rarely, if ever, have you seen a Ballon d’Or winner so underwhelming at the business end of a campaign.
And yet – let’s be honest – it would be an absolute travesty if Salah doesn’t end up on the podium. He is still Europe’s top five leagues for both goals and assists (something the great Lionel Messi never managed) and has been Liverpool’s difference-maker as they’ve made a procession of the 2024-25 Premier League title race.
For two-thirds of the season, he was on another planet. The best player by a country mile in the most competitive league in Europe.
Hopefully, come the Ballon d’Or in October, once the dust has settled, voters will remember and recognise what a ridiculous year it was for Salah. He really ought to be in the running for the award outright.
READ: The 15 players who have made the Ballon d’Or podium ahead of Salah since 2018
2. Lamine Yamal (+1)
Football’s most exciting wonderkid can’t compete with Salah or his Barca team-mate Raphinha when it comes to numbers this season.
Yamal’s goals and assists are ridiculous for a 17-year-old but not quite up there with Europe’s elite just yet. 115 players across Europe, including Fabio Silva and Danny Welbeck, have more league goals in 2024-25 – and nobody is placing them in the Ballon d’Or conversation.
But forget all that. Just watch Lamine with the ball at his feet and tell us you’re not watching the best player in the world right now. Think back to Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane or a young Messi and you get that same sense of wonder.
The opposite of Salah, he’s particularly come to life at this crucial juncture of the season. He was astonishingly good in both legs of Barca’s Champions League semi, scored against Real Madrid and unleashed a brilliant strike in their title-clinching Catalan derby victory away to Espanyol.
People will be talking a teenage Yamal for years to come. This is football heritage.
1. Ousmane Dembele (=)
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 despite a recent injury, he continues to produce the goods when PSG need him most.
Having recently recovered from a hamstring injury, he came off the bench against Arsenal and assisted Achraf Hakimi to book PSG’s place in the Champions League final.
If Dembele does something special in the final, there’s a good chance that he’ll become the sixth French player to win the Ballon d’Or.
If PSG lose, there’s a good chance he’ll fall out of the running entirely. These are the margins.
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