From late nights on PlayStation to Ballon d'Or: Ousmane Dembele's rise to the world's best

Ousmane Dembele was crowned the Ballon d'Or on Monday at the Theatre des Chatelets in Paris, finishing a remarkable renaissance that saw the French winger star for Paris Saint-Germain as they completed a treble, including their first Champions League title. He closed the 2024-25 season with 35 goals and 16 assists across 53 matches and helped PSG lift Europe’s premier club trophy for the first time. The night in Paris followed a season in which Dembele redefined his role and his approach to the game, earning praise from coach Luis Enriqué and a new sense of belief across the club.

In April, Dembele scored the only goal as PSG edged Arsenal in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final at the Emirates, a marker of how far he had come since last year’s setbacks. The team then advanced with a series of dominant performances, culminating in a 5-0 thrashing of Inter Milan in Munich as PSG sealed their continental crown. After that victory, Enrique publicly lauded Dembele, saying, "I’d give the Ballon d’Or to Mr Ousmane Dembele. The way he defended, only that can be worth the Ballon d’Or. This is how you lead a team - goals, titles, leadership, defending, how he was pressing… Ousmane is my Ballon d’Or. No doubts at all." Enrique’s words underscored a transformation that went beyond scoring.

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Dembele’s ascent did not come overnight. It followed a season in which a rift with then-PSG manager Luis Enrique last year led to the French forward being left in Paris for the Arsenal trip, a decision Enrique framed as a test of the player’s willingness to meet the team’s demands. Julien Laurens, a French football expert, described that moment as a turning point: the “power flex” by the coach, and a catalyst for Dembele as he started to understand what the manager wanted. The other key turning point, Laurens said, was Dembele’s repositioning from a winger to a centre-forward role, which allowed PSG to build the attack around him and change the team’s dynamic. As Dembele grew into the role, Arsenal became a proving ground for a player who had long possessed world-class talent but had struggled with consistency.

Those close to Dembele believe he is now finally fulfilling the immense potential they saw more than a decade ago. A clip from his teenage years at Rennes shows a then-teenager answering whether he is right- or left-footed by declaring, with unusual emotion, that he was left-footed—only to reveal he takes penalties with his right because he shoots better with that foot. His 2021 marriage and becoming a father, as well as a shift to a more structured lifestyle, are described by those close to him as central to his maturation. A source familiar with Dembele’s journey recalled that for a long time he could “play PlayStation until 2am and still perform the next day,” but the pressures of professional football eventually demanded more attention to his off-pitch routine. The changes included hiring a nutritionist, a chef, and working with personal physios, part of a broader effort to optimize marginal gains and reduce injury risk after a run of muscle problems.

Benzema, the last Frenchman to win the Ballon d’Or before Dembele, said he wished he had known earlier how much off-pitch discipline can influence on-pitch performance. That counsel has stuck with Dembele as he joined the ranks of France’s Ballon d’Or winners, becoming the sixth French player to win the award after Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini, Jean-Pierre Papin, Zinedine Zidane and Benzema. No other nation has produced more Ballon d’Or winners.

Dembele’s career path also reads like a case study in how talent can be unlocked with the right environment. He began at Rennes, moved to Borussia Dortmund at 19 under Thomas Tuchel, then became one of the world’s most expensive players when Barcelona paid £135.5 million in 2017. A season under Xavi at Barcelona teased what could have been, with the coach saying in 2021 that, when used properly, Dembele could be the best player in the world. Yet injuries and discipline concerns followed him back to Paris, where Mbappe’s departure in 2024 opened space for Dembele to flourish as a focal point of PSG’s attack. PSG’s recruitment of him, plus Mbappe’s exit, created a perfect storm for Dembele to prove his critics wrong and delivered the season that culminated in the Ballon d’Or.

The transformation has not only elevated Dembele’s individual stature but also reinforced a PSG culture that prioritizes collective success. Nine players from PSG’s 2024-25 campaign were among the 30 Ballon d’Or nominees, a reflection of a squad that functioned as a unit and allowed Dembele’s peak performance to shine. Laurens stresses that the Ballon d’Or is, in many ways, a reward for the system he helped build: a league-wide belief that the best player can emerge from a team-first approach, even when that player arrives with questions about consistency.

As the trophy tour concludes and Dembele continues to be viewed as a symbol of a renewed PSG, his story stands as a reminder of how late-night habits, positional clarity, and rigorous off-field habits can intersect with elite football to create a new global standard. The Ballon d’Or is not merely a measure of individual talent but also a barometer of leadership, resilience, and the ability to turn a career around at the highest level.