Ballon d'Or winner Dembele is only the 7th best player in the world, why?

Ousmane Dembele, the winner of the 2025 Ballon d'Or, surprisingly ranked only 7th in the list of the 100 best players in the world, as published by the Centre for Sports Studies (CIES).

Ballon d'Or winner Dembele only ranks 7th in the CIES ranking - Photo: REUTERS

Meanwhile, France Football magazine has just announced Ousmane Dembele (PSG, France) as the winner of the 2025 Ballon d'Or.

CIES made its own selection based on statistical analysis. Notably, Lamine Yamal, despite finishing second in the Ballon d'Or race, topped this list.

CIES has ranked the 100 best players in the world over the past year using a statistical method, taking into account players' performance in six aspects: goals, assists, dribbling, tackling, movement, and playmaking.

At the same time, the playing time, tournament level, and results of the matches they participated in were also taken into consideration.

CIES' ranking of the world's best football players - Photo: Screenshot

Based on all these criteria, Barca's prodigy Lamine Yamal is the best player in the world. He is followed by Kylian Mbappé in second place and Pedri in third.

Virgil van Dijk (4th), Michael Olise (5th), and Mohamed Salah (6th) are all ranked above Ousmane Dembele. Dembélé's PSG teammate Achraf Hakimi is in 9th place on this ranking, just above Vinicius Junior (10th).

Lamine Yamal was voted the world's best player by CIES - Photo: REUTERS

According to the CIES ranking, the three oldest players in the top 100 are Luka Modric, Lionel Messi, and Nicolas Otamendi. The youngest are Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi, and Desire Doue.

The Ballon D'or is an award organized by France Football magazine to honor outstanding individuals, teams, and coaches of the 2024-2025 season.

According to France Football, the Ballon d'Or is chosen based on three criteria: individual performance, team achievements, and fair play. Fifty journalists from the top 50 countries in the FIFA men's rankings and 50 journalists from the top 50 countries in the FIFA women's rankings vote to select the winner of the Ballon d'Or. Each journalist selects 10 players, scoring them from 15 down to 1. The player with the highest total score wins.

THANH DINH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/qua-bong-vang-dembele-chi-gioi-thu-7-the-gioi-vi-sao-20250925082244318.htm