The Debate: Who should win the 2025 Ballon d'Or?

An increasingly coveted award in the modern game, the Ballon d'Or is the most prestigious individual accolade a footballer can receive in their career.

Gone are the days when this prize was almost exclusively dished out to one of either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo - who have won a combined 13 Ballon d'Or awards between them.

With the Argentine and Portuguese superstars both in the swansong of their careers and now playing their club football outside of Europe, a new generation of stars are attempting to stake their claim as the world's best.

The bet365 News team Debate who deserves this status in 2025.

Kylian Mbappe is living up to his Ballon d’Or chatter at a club which can ensure he wins it.

Jaquob Crooke

“I know what I have to do to win it [Ballon d’Or]. When I do everything I need to do to win it, I will win it."

Kylian Mbappe’s arrogance has moulded him into one of the world’s best.

There is a sense of inevitability that the Frenchman will lay claim to the Ballon d’Or at some stage in his illustrious career given the swagger in which he conducts himself, but such haughtiness had diminished at the start of the campaign.

Hindered by a facial injury sustained against Austria, Mbappe misfired at Euro 2024. Despite the frenzy of his switch to the Spanish capital, the hangover of his national team adversity had seeped into his club form and the 26-year-old appeared bereft of confidence.

Following a difficult few months in Madrid, Mbappe has rediscovered his groove.

Match-winning salvos against Manchester City, Villarreal and Real Valladolid have nudged Vinicius Junior out of the spotlight in the battle to be Real Madrid’s lead figure.

In a debut campaign where he’s encountered severe teething issues, Mbappe is on course for a 40+ goal season.

Not only is the substantial tally testament to his world-class ability, but Mbappe remains in contention to scoop the golden boot in the UEFA Champions League as well.

That of course hinges on Real Madrid’s progression, but the perennial winners are once again primed to go the distance in a competition they consider to be their own.

Los Blancos’ sense of entitlement extends to the Ballon d’Or. Florentino Perez and his associates have masterminded Real Madrid propaganda and the outcome of last year’s voting will have only further incentivised them.

Ultimately, the UEFA Champions League and Ballon d’Or go hand-in-hand.

Mbappe being the lead protagonist in Real Madrid achieving a record-extending 16th European crown will catapult him above all else, and the former PSG frontman has demonstrated he is capable of taking them all the way in Munich.

Mbappe now finds himself at the best club to fulfil his Ballon d’Or dream, and you best believe he’s going to do his utmost to ensure he doesn’t have to wait much longer to claim the prestigious award.

We saw glimpses of what Raphinha could do in the Premier League, and while Leeds fans would champion the Brazilian to anyone who’d listen, the 28-year-old has taken his game to new heights since his move to Barcelona.

Liam Williams

In a lot of ways, Raphinha is similar to fellow Ballon d’Or hopeful Mohamed Salah, in that his effectiveness outweighs his flashiness, which perhaps counts against him somewhat in these discussions.

The Brazilian is not about blistering pace or having the ball glued to his foot or beating opponents with bewildering skill; he’s purely about scoring and creating goals in the more efficient manner.

Of course, these awards are no longer individual awards – if they ever were – and how Barcelona fare domestically and in Europe will have a huge bearing on whether Raphinha can win the Ballon d’Or, but the Catalans are favourites for both La Liga and the UEFA Champions League.

On an individual level, though, Raphinha’s threat is so multi-faceted that he can hurt teams from everywhere, be it out wide or when allowed to drift centrally, and while he impressed under Xavi, Hansi Flick has brought him on even more, becoming such a potent creative and goalscoring threat, averaging approximately 0.5xG and 0.5 xA per90 in La Liga this season, and that’s ignoring his outstanding European exploits.

While Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid could still win La Liga, the UEFA Champions League may be what tips it in Raphinha’s favour.

Since Barcelona's opening defeat to Monaco, Raphinha has scored 11 goals and made five more in just nine games, and this isn’t against mediocre opposition. He scored a hat-trick against Bayern Munich, has five goals against Benfica and two assists against Atalanta.

It's almost impossible to win the Ballon d’Or without winning the UEFA Champions League or an international tournament. Barcelona aren’t short of attacking stars, but if they can go all the way to win the UEFA Champions League, Raphinha will be the main reason why.

Don’t let Liverpool’s exit from the UEFA Champions League misguide you from the fact that Mohamed Salah is putting up numbers that would be remarkable even by the stupendous standards of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ellis Statham

As the era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo comes to a close, the question has been floated as to who will step up and come close to replicating the brilliance produced by the pair.

Well, up steps Mohamed Salah.

The ‘Egyptian King’ is, and has been for the best part of eight years, the benchmark for the rest of the Premier League. In the 2024/25 campaign, however, he has become the point of reference for every forward in Europe.

'Only Salah has scored more goals than …' 'Only Salah has registered more assists than …' A repetitive catchphrase signalling the conspicuous levels separating Salah and fellow forwards.

Breaking records on a weekly basis, no one comes close to the Egyptian’s numbers this season, on track to record 60+ goal contributions for the Reds. Sixty.

Kylian Mbappe has contributed to approximately 38% of Real Madrid’s league goals this term, while Raphinha has contributed to 30% of Barcelona’s league goals and Ousmane Dembele has been involved in 35% of Paris Saint-Germain’s Ligue 1 goals.

Undoubtedly impressive numbers, belittled by the fact that Salah has contributed to 63% of Liverpool’s Premier League goals. Consistently relentless.

While the Reds did crash out of the UEFA Champions League in the round of 16, murmurs that Salah has lost his touch in big games is outrageous, and quite simply disrespectful.

Liverpool’s number 11 has contributed to 15 goals against the Premier League’s top six in the 2024/25 season in a campaign where he is almost single-handedly spearheading the club to what would be just their second league title in the space of 35 years.

The Reds’ over-reliance on Salah has only hindered the Egyptian’s pursuit of the Ballon d’Or, but we needn’t forget that the award is handed to the player deemed to have performed the best in the previous campaign, not a standout player in the most impressive team.

With that said, Salah’s involvement in Liverpool’s inevitable 20th league title is arguably more impressive than the likes of Mbappe or Raphinha contributing to a UEFA Champions League triumph for Real Madrid or Barcelona, given that many touted Arne Slot’s side to be top four candidates at best in the Dutchman’s first season in charge.

As PSG march on in their quest for the Quadruple, Ousmane Dembele is in the midst of his own French Renaissance, fulfilling his potential as the figurehead of Les Parisiens.

George Wood

There have never been any doubts surrounding the natural ability of Ousmane Dembele, the man who doesn’t know himself whether he is right or left footed.

Any questions around the now 27-year-old Ousmane Dembele were always around his professionalism, and how seriously he wanted to take his football.

It’s safe to say the tutelage of PSG manager Luis Enrique has awakened a new desire within him to step up and fulfil the potential that people have seen in him since his early playing days.

PSG’s number 10 exuberates confidence on the pitch nowadays, with his focus, commitment and discipline allowing his natural talent to shine through.

Not only has he become a key figure within the team, but he stands out as a leader.

The Paris club are in the midst of implementing a new strategy of investing in youth, rather than star power as they did in the days of Messi, Neymar and Mbappe – with Dembele at the core of the leadership group mentoring talents such as Desire Doue, Bradley Barcola and Lee Kang-In.

The blistering form in which he started 2025 saw him come to the end of February on the same pace as Lionel Messi’s 91-goal calendar year, and despite falling away from that miraculous record, he became the first player since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018 to score 21 goals in the first three months of a year.

Esteemed company to say the least.

While the Ballon d’Or now hinges on team awards as well as individualistic brilliance, the Normandy-born forward could realistically end the season with five trophies for club and country.

Dembele winning the Ballon d’Or would round off a complete renaissance in the game for himself and provide young footballers all over the world assurances that they don’t have to evolve rapidly, but can take their time navigating the highly-pressurised and challenging nature of the modern game.

It would be both deserved for the man himself, and mean more for the wider game of football.

Should Barcelona complete a historic season as they are threatening to, expect the logic-defying Lamine Yamal to be at the heart of their success.

James Wilson

At just 17 years of age, Lamine Yamal is already Barcelona’s best player.

Fresh off the back of a Euros-winning campaign with Spain following which he was named Young Player of the Tournament, Yamal has established himself as one of the key protagonists in Hansi Flick’s flourishing Barcelona side.

Currently in contention to win the Treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League, only achieved twice in the Catalan giants’ history, this youthful Barcelona squad are flirting with immortality.

It would not require a football genius to identify who the jewel of this Barcelona team is.

Although Yamal plays the game in a manner befitting a seasoned professional, his true youth is given away by his boyish grin and slender frame.

By no means blessed by physical advantages such as extraordinary speed or strength, Yamal’s game is all about raw talent and pure skill, with the youngster equally capable of playing the role of supplier or killer.

Yamal’s importance in this potentially history-making Barcelona team has been underlined in his absence this season.

With Yamal troubled by an ankle injury at the back end of last year, Flick’s charges slumped to defeats against Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid and dropped further points at Celta Vigo to lose pace in the La Liga title race.

Now fully fit and back firing on all cylinders, Yamal continues to be the player this Barcelona team look to for inspiration in their quest for the biggest prizes on offer in club football.

In what now represents an iconic photograph, the resurfaced image of a baby Yamal cradled in the arms of the legendary Lionel Messi as part of a charity calendar project back in 2007 may be set to take on new meaning.

Not since the great Lionel Messi has the world of football seen a talent as precocious as his fellow La Masia graduate Lamine Yamal.

Who could have imagined this child would grow up to become Messi’s successor as a Barcelona Ballon d’Or winner?