Overview

• Hakimi formally declared on Canal+ that his performances in 2024-25 merit football’s top individual honour after a season he describes as “historic.”
• He delivered 11 goals and 16 assists across all competitions and scored in each of the Champions League’s quarter-final, semi-final and final rounds, a rarity for a defender.
• Paris Saint-Germain leads the 30-player shortlist with nine nominees, creating an internal battle for votes that could dilute support for any single candidate.
• Several PSG executives and teammates, including Vitinha, had publicly backed Ousmane Dembélé as the frontrunner before Hakimi staked his claim.
• France Football’s final voting is underway ahead of the Ballon d’Or ceremony scheduled for September 22 at Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet.