"Scandalous! Was Bayern star Olise robbed at the Ballon d'Or? 🏆" | OneFootball

The awarding of the Ballon d’Or in 2025 once again sparks heated discussions. While Ousmane Dembélé from Paris Saint-Germain won the coveted trophy and Barça's wonderkid Lamine Yamal landed in second place, there is great discontent among FC Bayern fans – their star Michael Olise only made it to the 30th place.

Olise, who alongside Harry Kane was the only FCB player to make it onto the shortlist of 30 nominees, had an outstanding season. Yet, in the final tally, the 23-year-old found himself at the very end of the ranking. For many fans, this is incomprehensible – especially since Olise is on par with Lamine Yamal in almost all statistical categories, sometimes even outperforming him.

The French specialist magazine France Football, which organizes the Ballon d’Or, sets three criteria for the selection: individual performances (goals, assists, defensive stats), team success, and fair play. Particularly the fact that Yamal secured second place with just one more assist, while Olise was relegated to 30th place, causes bewilderment. In all other relevant metrics, the Bayern player was ahead.

Subjective Jury Evaluation Sparks Criticism

Since August, 100 selected journalists from the top 100 nations of the FIFA world rankings cast their votes. Each chose a personal top 10, with points awarded from 15 to 1. But this is precisely where the problem lies: despite clearly defined criteria, the subjective perception of the jurors ultimately decides.

With Barcelona, Yamal won the championship and the cup during the evaluation period, and also reached the semifinals of the Champions League. Olise, on the other hand, won the German championship with Bayern and also reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League and the Club World Cup. The difference in placement is hardly justifiable in sporting terms, but rather an expression of individual assessments.

For Olise and the Bayern fans, a bitter aftertaste remains. The Frenchman played a season that clearly could have placed him among the top 15. Instead, he finds himself at the last place on the shortlist – a result that reinforces the impression that at the Ballon d’Or, it's not just the bare numbers that count.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.