Brazilian star Neymar slams Ballon d’Or rankings after Dembele’s win

Brazilian footballer Neymar Jr exploded after the Ballon d’Or ceremony where France’s well-known footballer Ousmane Dembele claimed the award.

Other players ranked among the top 5 included Barcelona's Lamine Yamal at 2nd, Paris-Saint Germain’s (PSG) Vitinha at third, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah at fourth and Barcelona ace Raphinha at fifth.

Neymar lashed out at French football for placing Raphiha at fifth spot declaring it to be a joke.

Brazil's all-time top scorer in the 2022 World Cup qualification round commented on an Instagram post from journalist Eduardo Semblano, writing, “Raphinha at 5th is too much of a joke.”

Raphinha has had one of the most successful seasons this year while playing as Barcelona winger. He scored 34 goals, provided 22 assists in 57 appearances. The acclaimed athlete was also Champion League’s top scorer with 13 goals.

His exceptional performance helped Barcelona to clinch the La Liga and Copa del Rey trophy. Despite all these achievements he was ranked fifth, trailing behind Yamal, Salah and Vitinha.

This isn’t the first time that Neymar has criticised French Football’s choice. In 2024, he said, Vinicius Junior deserved the award instead of Messi.

Ousmane Dembele claimed the award due to his impressive performance at PSG including 35 goals and 16 assists.

Here are final rankings of Ballon d’Or 2025:

1. Ousmane Dembele (PSG)
2. Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
3. Vitinha (PSG)
4. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
5. Raphinha (Barcelona)
6. Achraf Hakimi (PSG)
7. Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)
8. Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
9. Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG)
10. Nuno Mendes (PSG)

Ousmane is the first ever Ballon d’Or winner from PSG.