Ousmane Dembele, Aitana Bonmati win Ballon d’Or awards

• Ousmane Dembele won the Ballon d’Or for leading Paris Saint-Germain to its first Champions League title at a ceremony in Paris on September 22.

• Aitana Bonmati received the women’s award for a third successive year.

• Bonmati is only the third player in the award’s history to win three in a row after Michel Platini (1983-85) and Lionel Messi (2009-12).

• Dembele became the sixth Frenchman to win the award after Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini, Jean-Pierre Papin, Zinedine Zidane and Karim Benzema.

• Former Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona forward Dembele, who was part of the France team that won the World Cup in 2018, scored 35 goals in all competitions as PSG claimed a French league and cup double as well as winning the Champions League. PSG defeated Inter Milan 5-0 in the final in Munich to win the European Cup for the first time in their history.

• Dembele, 28, edged out Barcelona sensation Lamine Yamal to win the award. 

• Yamal was awarded the Kopa trophy for the world’s best Under-21 player of the year for the second time in a row.

What is the Ballon d’Or?

• Awarded by France Football magazine, the Ballon d’Or has been given out to men every year since 1956 when Stanley Matthews won. It is voted on by a panel of international journalists and is the most prestigious individual honour in the sport.

• Each journalist, one per country, selects 10 players in ranked order, with points attributed to each position. The winner is the player who receives the most points. Unlike FIFA’s awards for the best players each year, fans aren’t part of the voting system.

• The women’s trophy was created in 2018, and both were cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic.

• Over its long history, the Ballon d’Or has produced some of the game’s most iconic winners. Lionel Messi holds the record with eight victories, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo with five. 

This year’s winners:

• Men’s Ballon d’Or: Ousmane Dembele (France and Paris Saint-Germain)

• Women’s Ballon d’Or: Aitana Bonmatí (Spain and Barcelona)

• Men’s Kopa Trophy for Best Player Under-21: Lamine Yamal (Spain and Barcelona) 

• Women’s Kopa Trophy for Best Player Under-21: Vicky Lopez (Spain and Barcelona)

• Men’s Yashin Trophy for Best Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy and Paris-SG/Manchester City)

• Women’s Yashin Trophy for Best Goalkeeper: Hannah Hampton (England and Chelsea)

• Men’s Coach of the Year: Luis Enrique (Spain and Paris Saint-Germain)

• Women’s Coach of the Year: Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands and England National Team)

• Men’s Club of the Year: Paris Saint-Germain

• Women’s Club of the Year: Arsenal

• Men’s Gerd Muller Trophy for Best Striker: Viktor Gyokeres (Sporting Lisbon/Sweden, now Arsenal)

• Women’s Gerd Muller Trophy for Best Striker: Ewa Pajor (Barcelona/Poland)

• Socrates Award for humanitarian work off the pitch: Xana Foundation, which supports children and young people living with life-threatening illnesses.