Spain and Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal finishes second, PSG\u2019s Vitinha takes third place
\nParis
\nOusmane Dembele was named the world\u2019s best player of the season as he claimed the Ballon d\u2019Or on a night of triumph for his Paris St Germain club, while Barcelona\u2019s Aitana Bonmati, a serial trophy winner, claimed the women\u2019s award on Monday.
\nThe 28-year-old France forward Dembele, who needed time and the guidance of PSG coach Luis Enrique to fulfill his potential as he inspired the capital club to their first Champions League title last season, became the sixth French player to lift the award and the first since Karim Benzema in 2022.
\nHe beat Spain and Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal, with his PSG teammate Vitinha taking third place.
\n\u201cWhat I have just experienced is exceptional, I have no words for it, what happened with PSG. I feel a bit of stress, it\u2019s not easy to win this trophy, and to have it presented to me by Ronaldinho, a legend of football, is exceptional,\u201d Dembele said on stage at a Paris ceremony where he was supported by several teammates, the others being in Marseille for the Ligue 1 clash against OM which they lost 1-0.
\n\u201cI want to thank PSG who came to get me in 2023. It\u2019s an incredible family. The president Nasser (Al-Khelaifi) is like a father to me. I also want to thank all the staff and the coach, who have been exceptional with me \u2014 he too is like a father \u2014 and all my teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have practically won everything together. You supported me in the good and the difficult times. This individual trophy is one the team has won collectively,\u201d he added, later bursting into tears when he thanked his mother who joined him on stage.
\nHe also mentioned his first club Stade Rennais and the national team, vowing to win another World Cup next year with coach Didier Deschamps after their 2018 victory.
\n\u201cA great evening for him and a very good thing for French football. Ous\u2019 is someone who is very sensitive, he has had a difficult career with serious injuries but he has always kept things in perspective,\u201d Deschamps said. Dembele\u2019s prize was one of several for PSG, who won the treble of Champions League, Ligue 1 and the French Cup last season as well as the UEFA Super Cup this year.
\nThe French champions were named team of the season, Luis Enrique was voted best coach and Gianluigi Donnarumma, who left for Manchester City in the close season, was recognised as top goalkeeper with the Yashin trophy.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the result of hard work, by everyone at the club,\u201d PSG President Al-Khelaifi said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got young players, and stars who work for the team. It\u2019s a collective achievement.\u201d
\nSpain\u2019s Bonmati, the Champions League player of the season, won the women\u2019s Ballon d\u2019Or for the third time in a row, while England\u2019s Dutch manager Sarina Wiegman was honoured as women\u2019s coach of the year after leading her side to the European title.
\n\u201cI\u2019m amazed and proud because it\u2019s a lot of hard work. I\u2019m here for the third time in a row because of the teams I\u2019ve been playing with,\u201d the 27-year-old Bonmati said.
\n\u201cWe couldn\u2019t win the Champions League this year but we went to the final and it\u2019s football, it\u2019s not always about winning or losing,\u201d she added, with Barca having lost 1-0 to Arsenal in this year\u2019s final of Europe\u2019s elite club competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spain and Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal finishes second, PSG\u2019s Vitinha takes third place Paris Ousmane Dembele was named the world\u2019s best player of the season as he claimed the Ballon d\u2019Or on a night of triumph for his Paris St Germain club, while Barcelona\u2019s Aitana Bonmati, a serial trophy winner, claimed the women\u2019s award on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":87199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87204,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87191\/revisions\/87204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}