Ousmane Dembele shows off his Ballon d"OrImage source, Getty Images
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Ousmane Dembele won the Ballon d"Or in 2025 and is one of 10 PSG players listed for it this year

ByAlex BysouthBBC Sport senior journalist

An emotional Ousmane Dembele had barely settled back into his chair at Paris' historic Theatre du Chatelet last September, gold-dipped orb in hand, when campaigns for this year's men's Ballon d'Or prize began to whirr into action.

Entourages roused their candidates, media revelled in the hype. Who deserved the award in 2026? A World Cup year, no less, in which the narrative occasionally became not just which players could lead their country to glory, but how doing so would help them secure football's biggest individual accolade.