The Ballon d’Or, the award given to the best footballer in the world by the French magazine France Football, holds a lot of significance. Winning implies that one is the best footballer in the world, and hence, players vie with each other to add this accolade to the long list of honours they have already accumulated for themselves.
This award holds a lot of importance for European clubs – and their players – as these are monitored strictly, and their performances are scrutinized inch by inch by the judges. Players, apart from making vital contributions to their respective teams, are also judged on the basis of the number of titles they have won over the previous year.
RODRI IS THE 2024 MEN’S BALLON D’OR! #ballondor @ManCity @ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/heWvSQsOxn
— Ballon d’Or (@ballondor) October 28, 2024
Manchester City’s Rodri was the winner of the 2024 Ballon d’Or owing to the contributions he made to his club in their impressive 2022-23 treble-winning season. This time around, however, he is not going to be a candidate since he missed out on the majority of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
In this article, we take a look at the top five candidates for the Ballon d’Or 2025:
5. Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, who was one of the candidates for winning the Ballon d’Or in 2024, can enter into the fray this year as well although he has not been in the best of form lately and his team has not done too well either. With their most recent 0-2 loss to Liverpool, City have all but said goodbye to their hopes of retaining the Premier League title this season.
Monday work 💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/HGCS1Rm2ue
— Erling Haaland (@ErlingHaaland) February 25, 2025
Haaland is the second-highest goal scorer in the Premier League this season, having found the back of the net on 19 occasions, second only to the Egyptian maestro Mohamed Salah. The Norwegian has been a prime player for manager Pep Guardiola, who trusts him as a target man at the top of the tree and uses him to break his opposition’s defence, and dreams, into shatters. Haaland can use his feet and head equally well and is an extremely skilful player both with and without the ball.
4. Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
Harry Kane has been the player to watch out for in the Bundesliga ever since he moved to Bayern Munich from his former club Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2023. The Englishman has been in excellent form this season as well, having scored 21 goals already. Kane has also bagged six assists this season.
⚽️😄 Harry Kane with his new hat-trick’s match ball. pic.twitter.com/EoyRxkli3E
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) November 22, 2024
Kane is the highest goal-scorer in the Bundesliga in this campaign and also holds the lead in the most number of goal contributions – 27. He is one of the biggest candidates for winning the Ballon d’Or this year simply on the basis of his strong performances. Bayern are also primed to win the Bundesliga this season although they face stiff competition from defending champions Bayer Leverkusen.
3. Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
Robert Lewandowski is the leading goal scorer in La Liga this season (20 goals) and can be expected to carry his form forward further as well. The Polish attacker has shown his true colours despite his advancing years (36) and continued to helm the Barcelona attack, which has shown signs of rust due to not having enough creativity at times.
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
Robert Lewandowski under Hansi Flick;
• 107 matches
• 116 goals
• 26 assists142 goal contributions in 107 games 🤯🔥 pic.twitter.com/U9rw5KBJau
— KinG £ (@xKGx__) February 25, 2025
Lewandowski has come close to winning the Ballon d’Or in the past, often losing out to the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi when the duo were in their prime. This time around, however, Lewandowski has a good chance of winning as Barcelona are also expected to win the league title (54 points), despite Real Madrid (54) and Atletico Madrid (53) pushing them close till the end.
2. Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
Lamine Yamal is one of the biggest candidates for winning the Ballon d’Or this year. Having won the 2024 European Championship with Spain, Yamal has cemented his spot as one of the best young players in the world. He has also shown his wares with Barcelona in La Liga this season, leading the assists chart with 11 so far.
— Lamine Yamal 🇪🇸 (@Lamineeyamal__) February 25, 2025
Yamal’s creativity on the flanks, especially when taking on defenders in one-on-one situations, makes him a dangerous player to mark. Opposition defenders often lose out on marking him as he is far too quick for their liking and does not stay in a particular zone for too long. Yamal is only 17 years old, which is quite young for such an accomplished star, but he can still win the Ballon d’Or if he gets enough votes.
1. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Mohamed Salah is the prime candidate for winning the Ballon d’Or currently. He has been in fine form for Liverpool this season and looks primed to win the Premier League title as well. Salah’s contract comes to an end at the end of this summer, but he has firmly put such distractions behind him and focused on the task at hand – scoring goals and winning matches for Liverpool.
— Onze Masr 🇪🇬 (@onzemasr) February 20, 2025
Salah has scored a whopping 25 goals in the Premier League so far, and he also leads the assists chart with 16 in his kitty, which means that he has a total of 41 goal contributions so far this season. Salah has been brilliant in front of goal this campaign, and although his future may not be at Liverpool, he can be expected to cling on to the Premier League and Champions League title at the end of the season.
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