Rasim Movsumzade: Dembele's Champions League victory made him a favorite for the "Golden Ball"

For the first time in PSG's history, winning the UEFA Champions League turned Usman Dembele into one of the main favorites in the "Golden Ball" competition.

Rasim Movsumzade, the representative of the "Golden Ball" award in Azerbaijan, said this in an interview with "Report".

He attributed Mohamed Salah's 4th place to Liverpool's failure in European cups:

Until Liverpool stopped competing in the UEFA Champions League, Mohamed Salah was considered a major candidate to win the "Golden Ball". But the English club's failure in Europe resulted in the Egyptian footballer taking fourth place in the fight for the award. Scoring goals since the beginning of 2025 and winning the Champions League for the first time in the history of PSG, where he plays, made Usman Dembele one of the main favorites in the "Golden Ball" competition. As a result, he emerged victorious from the fight with Frenchman Lamin Yamal. Although Dembele is not the top scorer of the Champions League (he scored 8 goals, 5 goals behind the most productive players), his 35 goals in all competitions during the past season spoke for themselves in the selection. His main rival, Yamal, who was second in the poll, still has a future ahead of him. He is only 18 years old. The youngest winner of the "Golden Ball" was the 21-year-old Brazilian Ronaldo. Yamal may break his record in the coming years."

It should be noted that the winner of the "Golden Ball" award, established by the "France Football" publication for the best football player of the year, was PSG player Usman Dembele.