Does the best player in the world always win the Ballon d'Or? Former winner Michael Owen has his say ahead of the 2025 ceremony
By Tom Masters
Published 05/09/2025 at 15:37 GMT+1
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Michael Owen believes the best player in the world does not always win the Ballon d’Or as anticipation for the 2025 awards builds. Owen won the award in 2001 with Liverpool and is the last Englishman to do so. Since then, the award has been dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but with that era ending, Owen admits you do not have to be the very best to win.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
Michael Owen believes the best player in the world does not always win the Ballon d’Or as anticipation for the 2025 award builds.
Owen is the last Englishman to win the award, beating Raul to the gong in 2001 after winning the UEFA Cup (now UEFA Europa League), FA Cup and League Cup with Liverpool.
The Ballon d’Or was dominated by Lionel Messi (eight-time winner) and Cristiano Ronaldo (five-time winner) from 2008 to 2023.
That trend looks to have officially ended, though, with Manchester City midfielder Rodri winning the award in 2024.
The 2025 favourites include the likes of Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembele and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal after their sublime seasons for club and country.
But Owen claimed the Ballon d'Or is not necessarily won by the world's best player, revealing who he thinks is currently "top of the tree".
"I think he [Kylian Mbappe] is absolutely top of the tree personally, I think he is the best player in the world at the moment," Owen said on the Rio Presents podcast.
"[It is] not necessarily [the best player who wins the Ballon d’Or]
"You can’t be a mug and win it, can you? You don’t get bad players as Ballon d’Or winners but I think there have been possible cases when the eighth-best player in the world can win it.
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"I think you have got to be one of the very, very elite but I don’t think you have to be the best in the world.
"You have to have a brilliant season, you have to be one of the best in the world and your team has to be successful as well."
Mbappe is one of the 30 nominees for this year’s award, but is not being tipped for glory, with France team-mate Dembele the overwhelming favourite. The likes of Yamal and Vitinha are set to pip Mbappe to the podium.
It is the World Cup winner’s eighth consecutive nomination, yet the closest he has come to winning the award was third place in 2023.
Like Mbappe, Owen made a highly anticipated move to Real Madrid and the former England striker was not surprised by how quickly the French star adjusted to life at the Bernabeu.
He said: "I wasn’t surprised, he is so good, scoring hat-tricks in World Cups and things like that. I am not surprised, no, I just think he is brilliant.
"I’ve been to Madrid, obviously. It is not that hard to adapt into a team that has got the ball 80% of the time virtually every game apart from maybe one or two games a season.
"You’re literally getting fed the ball all the time, you are playing with great players in a great stadium, everyone expects you to win.
"It’s virtually impossible not to score. It’s hard not to score when you are playing for Real Madrid."
The Ballon d’Or ceremony takes place on September 22 in Paris.
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