Ballon d’Or 2025: Rio Ferdinand Names Two Strongest Candidates for the Award

Rio Ferdinand, the Manchester United legend, has named Ousmane Dembele of Paris Saint-Germain and Lamine Yamal of Barcelona as the two strongest candidates to win the Ballon d’Or this year.

The Man United icon spoke about this during a conversation with his former teammate Michael Owen on his YouTube show, Rio Ferdinand Presents.

Ferdinand also gave high praise to Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid, rating him above both Dembele and Yamal.

“If you consider all the players performing at the highest level, I think Mbappe is that guy,” Rio Ferdinand said.

“Even if we look at the two main contenders for this year’s Ballon d’Or — Dembele and Yamal — even though they’ve both reached incredible levels, I’d still say Mbappe.

“He scored more than 40 goals last season. If Real Madrid had won the league last season and gone far in the Champions League, maybe he would have won the Ballon d’Or.”