The 2025 Ballon d\u2019Or ceremony delivered one predictable outcome and several contentious placements. Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 took the prize, but voters\u2019 decisions further down the rankings produced clear surprises.<\/p>\n
Olise\u2019s drop to 30th felt unjust. He recorded 34 combined goal contributions in the Bundesliga and Champions League, played a leading role in Bayern Munich\u2019s return to the top of the German league and has become an influential figure for France. Given those facts, finishing 30th and, as some put it, \u201ccollecting the wooden spoon\u201d on the night did not reflect his season.<\/p>\n
Virgil van Dijk\u2019s position also raised eyebrows. After his recovery from a serious knee injury he returned to top form, missed just one game and helped Liverpool to a second Premier League title while the club boasted the second-best defensive record in Europe\u2019s strongest division. He was the only centre back shortlisted. Many questioned whether 27 players had genuinely outperformed him over the year.<\/p>\n
Vitinha\u2019s podium finish was understandable; he combined club success in the Champions League with Portugal\u2019s summer achievements. Still, teammates Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz (24th) and Neves (19th) seemed undervalued. Fabi\u00e1n supplied the decisive Champions League semifinal goal against Arsenal with a fierce strike, while Neves, \u201cthe smallest man on the pitch,\u201d headed the go-ahead goal against Manchester City in Paris on the penultimate matchday to complete PSG\u2019s turnaround.<\/p>\n
Kvaratskhelia\u2019s January move shifted Napoli\u2019s profile. Antonio Conte adapted his Napoli side to a 4-3-3 and the winger registered eight Serie A goal contributions in 15 starts before transferring to Paris, where he slotted quickly into Luis Enrique\u2019s system. Observers referenced his nicknames, \u2019Kvaradona\u2019 and \u2019Kvaradinho\u2019, reflecting the immediate impact he had on PSG\u2019s Champions League run.<\/p>\n
Finally, Pedri\u2019s omission from the top ten surprised many. A season largely free of major fitness setbacks allowed him to evolve under Hansi Flick into a midfield operator who can dictate and create. For a player in a Barcelona team that finished 2024\u201325 with three trophies, a place outside the top ten felt harsh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 won but voting produced surprising placements for Olise, Van Dijk, Neves, Kvaratskhelia and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1062,175,1031],"tags":[593,1047],"class_list":["post-3014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bayern-munich","category-liverpool","category-paris-saint-germain","tag-ballon-dor","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}