Not Yamal, but a player more deserving of the Ballon d'Or than Dembele

British media argue that Salah deserves the 2025 Ballon d'Or more than Dembele.

The 2025 Ballon d'Or ceremony has concluded with the male award going to Dembele (PSG). Fans seemed focused only on the duel between stars Yamal and Dembele, overlooking another outstanding player from the past season: Mohamed Salah.

The UK's Express wrote: "Mohamed Salah was robbed of the Ballon d'Or – Liverpool's star was treated unfairly. Salah will be remembered as one of the greatest players never to have won the Ballon d'Or – the fact he has never been in the top three is an injustice.

In the world's most competitive tournament, where the 15th and 17th ranked teams faced off in the European final, Salah delivered an explosive performance. His 4th place finish in the 2025 Ballon d'Or is an unfair reflection. In fact, some winners over the past 20 years never had a season as remarkable as Salah's 2024-25 campaign.

So was it just bad luck? Partly yes. He had a better individual season than the three players above him – Vitinha, Lamine Yamal, and Ousmane Dembele. But because PSG and Barcelona won more trophies than Liverpool last season, their players ranked higher than the Egyptian forward – a player who will be considered the all-time Premier League starting right winger when he leaves the league.

Although Salah did not win the 2025 Ballon d'Or, the 33-year-old striker set a personal best by finishing 4th. This is officially the highest ranking Salah has ever achieved for the Ballon d'Or.

The chance for Salah to win his first Ballon d'Or in his illustrious career seems to have slipped away. The Egyptian striker placed sixth in 2018 despite scoring 44 goals that season, fifth in 2019, seventh in 2021, fifth in 2022, eleventh in 2023, and of course fourth this year.