Ousmane Dembélé has been named the best male footballer in the world for 2025 by the Guardian, becoming the seventh different winner in the history of the publication's annual ranking. The French winger finished ahead of Lamine Yamal in second place and Vitinha in third, according to the Guardian's list published on Tuesday.
The Guardian's methodology involves a panel of judges whose individual votes are published alongside the final standings. The Premier League features prominently across the top 100, with the Guardian noting that the English top flight dominates the list more broadly — a reflection, perhaps, of the concentration of elite talent in England at present.
Dembélé's inclusion at the summit will not surprise those who have followed his form closely over the past calendar year. After years in which his considerable ability was offset by persistent injury concerns — first at Borussia Dortmund, then Barcelona — the winger has found a sustained consistency at Paris Saint-Germain that had long eluded him. His directness, close control, and capacity to operate across the front line have made him one of the most disruptive attackers in European football.
Yamal's second-place finish underlines the scale of the 17-year-old's emergence. The Barcelona forward has moved beyond the category of promising young player and into the conversation about the game's genuine elite, a progression that the Guardian's panel evidently felt was worth recognising near the very top of their rankings. Vitinha, PSG's Portuguese midfielder, completes a podium that includes two players from the French champions — a notable detail given the club's recent history of assembling costly squads without always translating that investment into coherent collective performances.
The full list of 100 players, along with individual judge votes and a detailed methodology, is available on the Guardian's website. The equivalent ranking for female footballers has also been published separately. Whether Dembélé's recognition here translates into similar acknowledgement at other end-of-year ceremonies remains to be seen, though the Guardian's list has established itself over more than a decade as one of the more considered annual assessments of the sport's hierarchy.