Ousmane Dembélé on Ballon d'Or Pressure: "This Makes Me Laugh"
Ousmane Dembélé knew the Ballon d'Or would change his life. He just didn't expect it to turn him into a lightning rod quite this quickly.
Since lifting the 2025 award, the Paris Saint-Germain winger has found himself under a glare that never switches off. Every touch, every decision, every quiet night is dissected. He insists he is not losing a minute of sleep over it.
"I don't care about being criticised, it's part of the game," he told RMC, speaking after an interview with France Football about his new status. "You will always be criticised in football, and it increases when you are the holder of the Ballon d'Or."
He knows exactly what comes with the golden ball: scrutiny, debate, and endless comparison. And he leans into it.
"I have won the biggest individual award, so I am now under the microscope more," he said. "This makes me laugh, you are constantly watched, but it doesn't bother me."
Living with the Ballon d'Or target on his back
The numbers from his 2025-26 season back up the idea of a player embracing the pressure rather than shrinking from it. Dembélé played 40 games for PSG in all competitions, scoring 20 goals and supplying 11 assists. Not just volume, but timing.
By his own account, he became a different kind of forward when it mattered most. The Champions League was his proving ground. From the quarter-final second leg onwards, he scored in every game he played.
"I was clearly better in the decisive moments, and that is important," he said. "Isn't that the number one criterion?"
The Ballon d'Or, he argues, forces a player to live on that edge every week.
"You have to be strong all the time," he explained. "You have to put in a good performance in every match, otherwise everyone will start talking about you and criticising you. This is funny, but it doesn't change anything, the criticism will always be there."
Early in the campaign, injuries threatened to derail that rhythm. PSG’s staff responded by managing his minutes carefully, keeping him fresh for the knockout nights and title-defining fixtures. The approach paid off. When the stage got bigger, Dembélé did too.
No obsession with keeping the crown
For all the noise around him, there is no hint of a man gripped by the fear of losing his prize. He is not among the leading favourites to retain the Ballon d'Or, and he is entirely at peace with that.
"This is football," he said. "The Ballon d'Or was never an obsession for me. It was a goal or a dream, yes, but it was never an obsession."
There is no campaign speech, no self-promotion.
"I hope the best player wins," he added, as simply as that.
Kvaratskhelia, Kane, Mbappé: Dembélé’s podium
Ask Dembélé who should take the trophy next, and the answer comes quickly. No diplomatic fence-sitting, no rehearsed neutrality.
He goes for a teammate: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
The Georgian winger, now alongside him at Paris Saint-Germain, is his pick for the Ballon d'Or. Behind Kvaratskhelia, he names England captain Harry Kane and his former PSG teammate Kylian Mbappé to complete his personal top three.
And what about Dembélé himself? Would he ever vote for his own name?
The reply is as blunt as it gets.
"No, if I were the one choosing, I would not put myself on the list and I would not vote for myself."
It is a stance that stands in sharp contrast to Mbappé, who has previously said that if the choice were his, he would back himself in the Ballon d'Or race.
Different personalities, different creeds. One star willing to cast a ballot for himself. Another who refuses to even write his own name down.
Dembélé, though, seems to thrive right in the middle of that tension — a Ballon d'Or winner who laughs at the pressure, welcomes the criticism, and keeps pushing the conversation away from his trophy and back onto the pitch.
