BREAKING: Chelsea star named as 8th best player in the world in 2025 at Ballon d’Or award | OneFootball

Cole Palmer has been named as 8th place in the Ballon d’Or rankings tonight in Paris.

It’s a glorious moment for Chelsea, who have been starved of recognition of this kind in their last few years in the wilderness. Estevao Willian, who arrived from Palmeiras in the summer, ranked 4th in the Kopa trophy for under 21 players.

Palmer’s continental success bring him major recognition

Cole Palmer lifts the Club World Cup trophy. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

Palmer actually had a very long goal drought for the majority of this year – his goal against Brentford a few weeks ago was his first from open play since January, incredibly.

But Chelsea’s success in the Conference League and Club World Cup (where Palmer was sensational in the final, helping blow away reigning Champions League winners PSG) will have played a major part in getting him this high up in the ranking.

Now he’s back in the Champions League himself, he has a chance to go one better in a year’s time. A World Cup with England is also on the horizon.

Palmer must get injury under control to have another great season

Unfortunately, this is not a great moment for Palmer. He’s been struggling with a groin injury since before the summer, and attempts to manage it don’t seem to be working.

He looked hurt at the end of the game against Bayern Munich last week, then lasted just 20 minutes against Man United before trudging off after aggravating it.

If we want him to be winning this award in the future, the right move is to shut him down now and to protect him from doing himself any more harm. We can’t be thinking ahead to a World Cup or Champions League knockout yet, first we need the team’s talisman fit and firing.