Why Ousmane Dembélé’s injury won’t affect Ballon d’Or chances | OneFootball

Ousmane Dembélé (28) won’t play between now and the Ballon d’Or ceremony on 22nd September. The Frenchman, the favourite to win the individual accolade, suffered a hamstring injury in Les Bleus’ 2-0 win over Ukraine on Friday night. Paris Saint-Germain have confirmed that their forward is set to miss around six weeks of action, putting his return date at mid/late October.

On the face of it, Dembélé’s injury just two weeks before the attribution of the Ballon d’Or constitutes a blow to his chances. Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal is cited as the former Borussia Dortmund, Stade Rennais, and Barcelona winger’s main challenger for the title.

However, the Frenchman’s injury will have no bearing. As the Ballon d’Or’s rules state, the “reference period” to win the award is between 1st August 2024 and 2nd August 2025. As a result, all competitive matches played during the 2025/26 season do not count towards the attribution of the award.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle