{"id":37355,"date":"2026-09-08T13:16:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T12:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=37355"},"modified":"2026-09-08T13:16:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T12:16:54","slug":"dembele-backs-psg-player-to-win-2026-ballon-dor-as-race-takes-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/08\/dembele-backs-psg-player-to-win-2026-ballon-dor-as-race-takes-shape\/","title":{"rendered":"Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 Backs PSG Player to Win 2026 Ballon d\u2019Or as Race Takes Shape"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PARIS<\/strong> \u2014 Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 believes another Paris Saint-Germain player will win the Ballon d\u2019Or in 2026, saying the European champions have enough individual quality to keep football\u2019s most prestigious individual prize at the club. Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, who won the award in 2025 after helping PSG capture its first Champions League title, made the prediction in an interview with France Football as organizers began unveiling this year\u2019s nominees Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The France forward said he does not consider the race as open as some observers suggest. \u201cI think it will remain in the hands of a Paris Saint-Germain player,\u201d Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 said. Asked to identify leading candidates, he named PSG teammate Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane and Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, while declining to include himself among his choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 also highlighted Bayern\u2019s Michael Olise, Barcelona\u2019s Lamine Yamal and PSG teammates Fabian Ruiz and Willian Pacho as players whose performances deserved recognition. His comments underline the depth of the field for the 2026 award, which considers individual performance as well as team success and sporting conduct over the previous season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PSG\u2019s case is strengthened by another historic season in Europe. Luis Enrique\u2019s team successfully defended the Champions League in May, defeating Arsenal 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Budapest. PSG became only the second club in the Champions League era to retain the trophy, following Real Madrid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 won the 2025 Ballon d\u2019Or ahead of Barcelona\u2019s Lamine Yamal and PSG teammate Vitinha after scoring 37 goals and providing 15 assists during a season in which Paris won its first Champions League crown. His victory made him the sixth Frenchman to win the men\u2019s award and the first PSG player from France to do so while representing the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ballon d\u2019Or, first awarded in 1956, has grown into one of the most closely followed individual honors in international football. The 2026 edition is its 70th, with 30 players due on the men\u2019s shortlist. The ceremony will be held in London on Oct. 26, the first time the event has been staged in the British capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For PSG, another winner would reinforce the club\u2019s transformation from a team long associated with expensive star signings into a side whose collective success has translated into individual honors. Whether Demb\u00e9l\u00e9\u2019s prediction proves correct will depend on how voters weigh PSG\u2019s second straight European title against standout seasons from players such as Kane, Mbapp\u00e9 and Yamal when the winner is announced next month<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PARIS \u2014 Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 believes another Paris Saint-Germain player will win the Ballon d\u2019Or in 2026, saying the European champions have enough individual quality to keep football\u2019s most prestigious individual prize at the club. Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, who won the award in 2025 after helping PSG capture its first Champions League title, made the prediction in an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":37356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 believes the 2026 Ballon d\u2019Or will remain with Paris Saint-Germain, naming Khvicha Kvaratskhelia among his leading contenders alongside Harry Kane and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 Backs PSG Player to Win 2026 Ballon d\u2019Or as Race Takes Shape","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25,4,5,7],"tags":[23870,21707,20478,23867,19363,12705,23871,18012,23869,3093],"class_list":["post-37355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-featured","category-international","category-sports","tag-ballon-dor-2026","tag-champions-league","tag-harry-kane","tag-khvicha-kvaratskhelia","tag-kylian-mbappe","tag-lamine-yamal","tag-michael-olise","tag-ousmane-dembele","tag-paris-saint-germain","tag-psg"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/p3CH_QHOvlYTTzs9_gORdjxQ9GdxXSWcYgmrco1Gt5kHR5LxJ1gVtcg72q4k093L-01ehDkqFfOpFg5aXJYpdzm_hCc6h7DOFw1CwNQRSojtaQLm_BCg68VtS_-fw6-9IfuopW0W01Jf5SI_0Vn-vFY-ciNYPqy_rVc1HBqZh1DyqCMx8abuaLt_QbRdCoIQ.jpg?fit=960%2C1200&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37358,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37355\/revisions\/37358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}