The debate over the 2025 Ballon d’Or has rolled on after Paris Saint-Germain star Ousmane Dembele stormed to victory ahead of Lamine Yamal.
After months of rumours over who would lift the trophy in Paris, Dembele emerged victorious, after a sensational campaign in the French capital.
Alongside winning three trophies in France, Dembele powered PSG to a first-ever UEFA Champions League crown, which sealed his spot at No.1 for France Football.
The argument over who should have won shows no signs of easing but FF have now released the final vote tallies to show how clear Dembele was clear in the race.
Dembele beat the Catalan teenager by 321 points in the end count after receiving 73 first choices votes from the 100 judges with Lamine Yamal landing just 11.
That gap secured final totals of Dembele on 1350 and Lamine Yamal on 1059 as the biggest gap between first and second since Karim Benzema scored 549 in 2022 ahead of Sadio Mane on 193.
Despite the frustration for Lamine Yamal in not winning the main award, he defended his Kopa Trophy, as the first player to do so.
The Kopa Trophy is not decided by journalists and experts, but by the living former Ballon d’Or winners, of which 27 of 31 cast their vote.
From that 27, there was 21 votes for Lamine Yamal as first choice, with Roberto Baggio, Ruud Gulliit and Pavel Nedved the only ones not to pick him as No.1.
The group of superstar names who did vote for Lamine Yamal includes some of the biggest names in football history including Lionel Messi.
Kopa Trophy votes for Lamine Yamal in 2025: Gianni Rivera, Oleg Blokhin, Allan Simonsen, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Igor Belanov, Marco Van Basten, Lothar Matthaus, Papin, Hristo Stoichkov, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo Nazario, George Weah, Matthias Sammer, Rivaldo, Luis Figo, Ronaldinho, Andriy Shevchenko, Fabio Cannavaro, Kaka, Lionel Messi, Luka Modric, Karim Benzema and Rodri.
