Football fans are still buzzing about it. Honestly, it feels like the dust has only just settled on the Théâtre du Châtelet red carpet. If you’re asking when is the ballon d'or 2025, the big night actually took place on Monday, September 22, 2025.
It was a massive shift from the usual late-October schedule we've seen in recent years. Moving the gala up to September changed the entire vibe of the early season. Instead of waiting for the winter chill to settle in Paris, we got the world's best players gathered while the summer heat was still fading.
Why the September Date Changed Everything
The 69th edition of the ceremony was a bit of a logistics puzzle. Since the award now covers the European season—specifically from August 1, 2024, to the final of the FIFA Club World Cup on July 13, 2025—France Football and UEFA (who now co-organize the event) decided there was no point in waiting until nearly Christmas to hand out the hardware.
Basically, they wanted the achievements of the previous season to be fresh in everyone's minds.
If you missed the live broadcast, it kicked off at 9:00 PM local time in Paris. For those of us watching in the States, that meant a mid-afternoon viewing party around 3:00 PM ET. It’s kinda weird watching the most prestigious individual award in sports while you're still finishing your lunch, but hey, that's the price of global fandom.
The Host Shake-up
One of the biggest surprises wasn't even the winner. It was the stage presence. For years, we got used to Didier Drogba and Sandy Heribert running the show.
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This time?
We saw Dutch legend Ruud Gullit (the 1987 winner himself) and British broadcaster Kate Scott take the reins. Scott, who many know from the chaotic and hilarious CBS Sports Golazo Champions League coverage, brought a totally different energy to the room. It felt less like a stiff corporate event and more like a celebration of the game.
Who Actually Walked Away with the Gold?
The 2024-25 season was a rollercoaster. After Rodri’s controversial (depending on who you ask in Madrid) win in 2024, the 2025 race was wide open.
Ousmane Dembélé ended up taking home his first-ever Ballon d'Or.
Yeah, you read that right. The PSG winger had an absolute monster of a season, finally staying fit and spearheading Paris Saint-Germain’s charge to a historic treble, including that elusive Champions League trophy. He finished with 1,380 points, comfortably ahead of the teenage sensation Lamine Yamal.
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The voting breakdown was fascinating:
- Ousmane Dembélé (PSG/France): 1,380 points
- Lamine Yamal (Barcelona/Spain): 1,059 points
- Vitinha (PSG/Portugal): 703 points
- Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/Egypt): 657 points
Yamal didn't leave empty-handed, though. He snagged his second Kopa Trophy, further cementing the idea that we’re living in his world and just renting space in it. Meanwhile, Aitana Bonmatí continued her total dominance of the women’s game, picking up her third Ballon d'Or Féminin. It’s getting hard to find new adjectives for what she’s doing on the pitch.
New Categories and Parity
UEFA and Groupe Amaury (the folks who own France Football) made a big push for parity this year. For the first time, almost every category had a direct male and female equivalent. We saw the Johan Cruyff Trophy for best coach go to both the men's and women's game leaders, and the parity in the Yashin and Gerd Müller trophies felt like a long-overdue step for the gala's prestige.
Real Talk: The "Real Madrid" Factor
We have to talk about the elephant in the room. After the 2024 ceremony where Real Madrid skipped the event entirely, everyone was watching the 2025 guest list like a hawk.
Kylian Mbappé was there.
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Even though he finished 7th in the rankings—a bit lower than his usual standards due to a lack of major silverware in his debut Madrid season—his presence signaled a bit of a "truce" between the club and the organizers. Vinícius Júnior also made the trip, finishing 16th after a season that was personally productive but lacked the team trophies needed to climb the podium.
How the Winner is Decided Now
A lot of people still think this is a "best in the world right now" award. It isn't.
Since the 2022 reforms, the criteria are very specific:
- Individual performance and the decisive/impressive character of the contender.
- Team performance and achievements (trophies won).
- Class and fair play (because apparently, being a nice person still counts for something).
The jury is restricted to journalists from the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings. This was done to stop the "random" votes from countries where football isn't a primary sport, which used to lead to some... let's say interesting results in the past.
Actionable Steps for Football Fans
If you're already looking forward to the next cycle or want to dive deeper into how the 2025 results shake out, here’s what you should do:
- Watch the Replay: If you missed the ceremony, the full gala is usually archived on the L'Équipe YouTube channel or through rights holders like Paramount+ in the US and TNT Sports in the UK.
- Check the "Points" Lists: France Football usually releases the full voting breakdown a few days after the ceremony. It’s always fun to see which journalist from which country gave their top vote to a random backup goalkeeper (it happens more than you'd think).
- Follow the 2025-26 Season: The race for the next trophy is already on. Every goal scored in the current domestic leagues and the upcoming international break counts toward the 2026 award.
The move to a September date seems to be the new "normal" for the Ballon d'Or. It aligns the celebration with the start of the European season rather than the middle of it, making the gala feel like the ultimate closing chapter of the previous year's stories. Whether you agree with Dembélé winning or think Lamine Yamal was robbed, there’s no denying the 2025 ceremony was one of the most memorable in years.