France and Real Madrid attacking sensation Kylian Mbappe has confirmed he will not attend the 2025 Ballon d’Or ceremony, while also revealing his preferred pick for the Men’s honours, MySportDab reports.
The ceremony which is slated to be held on Monday at its usual venue – Theatre du Chatelet in Paris – will see elite-level players and coaches wrestle for different honours.
For the Men’s Footballer of the Year award, a host of names have been lined up as top candidates and leading the list is PSG and French attacking sensation Ousmane Dembele.
Dembele won all domestic trophies with PSG last season and added the coveted UEFA Champions League to his locker room.
He played an integral role in PSG’s run-up to the victory – ending the club’s enduring deadlock in Europe.
While the former Borussia Dortmund winger remains top of the pecking order for the honour, he is expected to be rivalled by fast-rising Barcelona and Spain youngster Lamine Yamal.
Lamine Yamal won the La Liga with Barcelona and the Copa Del Rey. He also clinched the Spanish Super Cup and finished as runners-up in the UEFA Nations League with Spain.
Other top names on the list are PSG’s Vitinha, Barcelona’s Raphinha, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, and others.
However, Mbappe has reiterated his support for his countryman Ousmane Dembele to win the award. Speaking after the 2025-26 Champions League opener against Marseille, Real Madrid revealed Dembele is their preferred pick. He also added that he will not attend the award, but will watch it on Television.
”I’ll watch the ceremony on television,’ Mbappe said. ‘[I] hope Dembele wins,” he said.
Journalists from the top 100 FIFA member nations will vote for the winner of this year’s Ballon d’Or award. This is a slight departure from the previous voting procedure where team captains and head coaches also joined the list of voters.
