Paris Saint-Germain forward Ousmane Dembélé capped his exceptional season by winning the Globe Soccer Award for Best Player in the World for 2025 on Sunday in Dubai, while Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr was chosen as the Best Player in the Middle East.
Dembélé’s triumph was expected after he led PSG to a historic sextuple, including the club’s first-ever UEFA Champions League title.
Ronaldo (40 years old) was on the awards podium for the second consecutive year, revealing that his goal is to score his 1000th career goal.
The star, formerly of Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus, said: “I still have a great passion for football. My ambition is to win more trophies and reach the 1000-goal mark.”
The Portuguese star scored a brace for his team Al-Nassr in a 3-0 win over Al-Akhdoud in the Saudi Pro League, bringing his career goal tally to 956 goals.
Paris Saint-Germain was rewarded for its sextuple by claiming the lion’s share of the awards: Best Club, Best Coach, Best Emerging Player, Best Midfielder, and Best Club President.
Barcelona, champions of La Liga, also had a significant share of awards through Lamine Yamal (18 years old), who won the award for Best Striker and the Diego Maradona Award honoring young talents.
Yamal contributed to Barcelona winning the domestic treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Spanish Super Cup, in addition to reaching the Champions League semifinals for the first time since 2019.
Barcelona also won the award for Best Women’s Club, and the Best Women’s Player award through Aitana Bonmatí, who won for the third consecutive year.
Portuguese agent Jorge Mendes won the award for Best Player Agent, and his compatriot Luís Campos, the sporting advisor for the Parisian club, won the award for Best Sporting Director.
The Spanish player Andrés Iniesta and the Japanese player Hidetoshi Nakata received the Career Award, while the French player Paul Pogba (Monaco) won the award for Best Comeback.
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain is a professional football club based in Paris, France, founded in 1970 through the merger of Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain. It has become one of France’s most successful clubs, winning numerous domestic titles and establishing itself as a major force in European football.
Ousmane Dembélé
Ousmane Dembélé is a French professional footballer, not a physical place or cultural site. He is known for his career as a winger, having played for clubs like Borussia Dortmund, FC Barcelona, and Paris Saint-Germain, and for the French national team.
Dubai
Dubai is a major global city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates, historically known as a small fishing and pearling village. Its modern transformation began with the discovery of oil in the 1960s, but it has since strategically diversified into a hub for tourism, finance, and trade, famous for landmarks like the Burj Khalifa and artificial Palm Islands.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is a world-famous Portuguese professional footballer, widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. His career began at Sporting CP before he achieved global stardom with Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus, winning numerous team and individual awards, including five Ballon d’Or titles.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is a Middle Eastern nation founded in 1932 by King Abdulaziz Al Saud, unifying the regions of Najd and Hejaz. It is the birthplace of Islam, home to the religion’s two holiest cities, Mecca and Medina, and its history and culture are deeply intertwined with the Islamic faith. The country’s modern economy and global influence are primarily built upon its vast reserves of petroleum, discovered in the 1930s.
Al-Nassr
Al-Nassr is a professional football club based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, founded in 1955. It is one of the country’s most successful clubs, historically associated with the city’s Al-Yamamah neighborhood and known for its passionate fanbase.
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League is an annual club football competition organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). It was first introduced in the 1955–56 season as the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, evolving into its current group and knockout format in 1992. It is widely considered the most prestigious club tournament in European football.
Manchester United
Manchester United is a professional football club based in Manchester, England, founded in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR Football Club. It is one of the world’s most successful and widely supported football teams, having won a record 20 English league titles and three European Cups, with its modern era of dominance heavily associated with the managerial tenure of Sir Alex Ferguson from 1986 to 2013.
Real Madrid
Real Madrid is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain, founded in 1902. It is one of the world’s most successful and widely supported clubs, renowned for its record number of European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles. The club’s history is deeply intertwined with Spanish culture and politics, having been granted royal patronage in 1920, which led to its “Real” (Royal) name.
Juventus
Juventus is a professional football club based in Turin, Italy, founded in 1897. It is one of the most successful clubs in Italian football history, having won a record number of Serie A titles.
Al-Akhdoud
Al-Akhdoud is an archaeological site in the Najran region of Saudi Arabia, known for the ruins of an ancient fortified city. Historically, it was a significant settlement along the incense trade route and is believed to have been inhabited from as early as the 1st millennium BCE through the Islamic period. Excavations have revealed inscriptions, artifacts, and structures that provide insight into the pre-Islamic civilizations of southern Arabia.
Saudi Pro League
The Saudi Pro League is the top division of professional football in Saudi Arabia, founded in 1976. It has grown to become one of the most prominent leagues in Asia, historically dominated by clubs like Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr, and gained significant global attention in 2023 following high-profile international player signings.
Barcelona
Barcelona is a historic Mediterranean port city and the capital of Catalonia, Spain, with origins dating back to a Roman colony in the 1st century BC. It is globally renowned for its unique architecture, most notably the modernist masterpieces of Antoni Gaudí like the Sagrada Família, and its vibrant cultural life centered around landmarks such as the Gothic Quarter.
La Liga
La Liga is the top professional football division in Spain, founded in 1929. It is one of the world’s most prestigious football leagues, historically dominated by clubs such as Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
Lamine Yamal
Lamine Yamal is a professional footballer, not a place or cultural site. He is a Spanish winger of Moroccan descent who plays for FC Barcelona and the Spain national team, known for becoming the youngest goal-scorer for both clubs. His history is tied to his rapid rise through Barcelona’s youth academy, La Masia, and his record-breaking debut for the senior team at age 15.
Diego Maradona Award
The Diego Maradona Award is a football honor established in 2020 by the newspaper *Tuttosport* to commemorate the legendary Argentine player after his death. It is awarded annually to the best goal-scorer in world football, with the inaugural winner being Robert Lewandowski.
Copa del Rey
The Copa del Rey is Spain’s premier annual domestic football cup competition, first held in 1903. It is one of the oldest national cup tournaments in Europe and is open to teams from across the Spanish football league system.
Spanish Super Cup
The Spanish Super Cup is an annual football competition contested by the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey. Originally a two-team fixture played over two legs in Spain, its format was expanded in 2020 to include four teams and is now frequently hosted abroad, notably in Saudi Arabia.
Aitana Bonmatí
Aitana Bonmatí is a Spanish professional footballer, not a place or cultural site. She plays as a midfielder for FC Barcelona and the Spain national team, and she is widely recognized for her technical skill and vision. Her history includes being a key part of Barcelona’s dominant women’s team and winning the 2023 Ballon d’Or Féminin after leading Spain to a FIFA Women’s World Cup victory.
Jorge Mendes
Jorge Mendes is a prominent Portuguese football agent and founder of the agency Gestifute, known for representing many of the world’s top players and managers. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s, playing a key role in high-profile transfers and significantly influencing the modern football business landscape.
Luís Campos
Luís Campos is a football stadium located in Barcelos, Portugal, and is the home ground of Gil Vicente F.C. It was inaugurated in 1925 and later renamed in honor of Luís Campos, a former club president. The stadium has undergone several renovations and remains a central venue for football in the Minho region.
Andrés Iniesta
Andrés Iniesta is a Spanish professional footballer widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, best known for his legendary career at FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team. His most iconic moment was scoring the extra-time winning goal in the 2010 FIFA World Cup final, which secured Spain’s first World Cup title.
Hidetoshi Nakata
Hidetoshi Nakata is a retired Japanese professional footballer who played as a midfielder, widely regarded as one of Asia’s greatest players. He made history by becoming the most expensive Asian player of his time when he transferred to Italian club Roma in 2001, following a successful career start in Japan’s J-League. After retiring from football in 2006, he has become a prominent cultural figure, focusing on travel and promoting Japanese craftsmanship and culture globally.
Paul Pogba
Paul Pogba is a French professional footballer, not a place or cultural site. He rose to prominence at Juventus after leaving Manchester United’s youth academy and later returned to United in 2016 for a then-world record transfer fee, while also being a key midfielder for the French national team that won the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Monaco
Monaco is a sovereign city-state on the French Riviera, historically ruled by the Grimaldi family since the 13th century. It is renowned today as a glamorous principality famous for its luxury casinos, the Formula 1 Grand Prix, and as a tax haven.
