Ballon d’Or Awarded Tonight, Yawn | OneFootball

The marquee Monday night awards show in soccer is back around for another glitzy and star-studded night of who gives a . The Ballon d’Or will be awarded; the spotlight focused on the men’s award. Ousmane Dembélé and Lamine Yamal are in the front-runner spots, but let’s not forget the other awards up for grabs tonight:

Real Madrid Boycotts Again

Proving once again that success and class do not go hand-in-hand, Real Madrid has boycotted the ceremony in Paris. This is despite seven players being nominated: Vinícius Júnior, Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham for the men’s Ballon d’Or; Caroline Weir for the Ballon d’Or Féminin; Thibaut Courtois for the Yashin Trophy; Dean Huijsen and Linda Caicedo for the Men’s and Women’s Kopa Trophy.

This year’s boycott continues last year’s temper tantrum over Viní losing out to Rodri for the main prize. Real Madrid ordered all club representatives to not attend the ceremony in October 2024 when rumors surfaced around that decision. Madrid won four of the twelve awards last year, which led to a significantly shorter ceremony as the hosts accepted on their behalf. Hey Kylian, did Didier Drogba ever send you that Gerd Müller Award? Or did I spot it tucked in the back of the Phoenix Rising trophy case?

Paris Saint-Germain Predicted to Win

Despite having to play Marseille tonight in a rescheduled Ligue 1 match, three of the nine nominated players from Paris Saint-Germain will attend the gala: Ousmane Dembélé, Desiré Doué and João Neves. All three are currently injured, and since Rodri attended last year on crutches, have no excuse to not attend since they can walk unassisted and the Théâtre du Châtelet is only a few Metro stops from their homes.

As the 30 nominees are gradually whittled down in time-released fashion, we have our ten finalists:

The smart money is on Dembélé. He absolutely crushed it last year, with 51 goal involvements in 59 matches. He won accolades as Ligue 1 Player of the Season, Ligue 1 Golden Boot and Champions League Player of the Season. With his contributions, Paris Saint-Germain lifted the Ligue 1, Coupe de France and the French Super Cup trophies.

All the other candidates, while notching remarkable achievements, failed to have the same overall Venn diagram of consistent impact.