‘Before the Champions League final, people would shout “Ballon d’Or!” at me. It’s the Holy Grail of football’ Ousmane Dembele on what landing football’s biggest individual prize would mean to him

When Ousmane Dembele made his €148 million move from Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona in 2017, he was quickly earmarked as a future Ballon d’Or winner and the player to disrupt the Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo duopoly.

That prophecy did not come to pass, as a series of injuries meant that the France international could not live up to his billing at Camp Nou. After six seasons, in which Dembele turned out 185 times across all competitions, scoring 40 goals, he moved to Paris Saint-Germain in a £50m move.

What has followed has been something of a career renaissance for the 28-year-old, who helped PSG win a domestic double in his first season back in France, before the Parisiens claimed their first-ever Champions League title last season, plus a domestic treble.

Ousmane Dembele on his Ballon d’Or hopes

The former Rennes forward was at the heart of PSG’s success last year, scoring 33 goals and providing 15 assists in 49 appearances, with FourFourTwo ranking him at no.3 in a list of the planet’s best strikers.

Dembele was named as the Ligue 1 Player of the Year, sharing the competition’s top scorer award with Mason Greenwood, as the individual plaudits kept rolling in.

As the 2025/26 season gets underway, Dembele also finds himself as the favourite for this year’s Ballon d’Or award.

“For an individual trophy, there’s nothing better for a footballer,” Dembele tells FourFourTwo. “It’s the Holy Grail of football. When you see all the legends who have won it, it’s exceptional.”

In the build-up to the Champions League final, many within the coaching staff – and even others around the club – would greet him with playful shouts about the award, almost as a way of pushing him, willing him on.

“People would see me and call out my name, shouting ‘Ballon d’Or, Ballon d’Or!’ But to be honest, Luis Enrique, the staff and all the players were really focused on the team – especially on the Champions League final.”

What Dembele doesn’t know is that Luis Enrique and his coaching team made a conscious effort to plant that idea in his mind since the start of the campaign – mentioning the Ballon d’Or at any opportunity, as a clever way of motivating him, boosting his confidence and making him believe he absolutely belonged in that conversation.

Dembele knows that potential recognition is no coincidence. “After a season like that – four titles, scoring, assisting – it is normal to be considered one of the favourites for the award.”