#ballon-dor

#ballon-dor

British football icon and captain of England women's national football team Leah Williamson has seemingly confirmed her relationship with Miss USA 2021 winner, Elle Smith. Leah Williamson was in attendance at the 69th Ballon d'Or ceremony, which marks achievement in football, in Paris on 22 September. The Arsenal player was nominated at the ceremony for the 2025 Ballon d'Or Fémenin, while Arsenal won the Women's Club of the Year accolade.

"He is one of the greatest goal scorers the game has ever seen. I believe he's England's best ever objective scorer. He's carried it out in the Premier League with a team that aren't one in every of the top groups. He's gone overseas now with Bayern Munich. All eyes are on him and there is large stress,"

Nearly 30 years have passed since a German footballer last won the Ballon d'Or, the sport's most prestigious individual prize. In 1996, Matthias Sammer was awarded the trophy on the heels of a European Championship victory for his country and just several months before he would go on to win the Champions League title with his club, Borussia Dortmund. Even before Sammer, German footballers had seen considerable Ballon d'Or success, particularly in the 1970s and early 80s.

The biggest names in soccer were back at Paris' Theatre du Chatelet for the 2025 Ballon d'Or ceremony on Monday. A handful of awards will be handed out, headlined by the men's and women's Ballon d'Or for best player of the 2024-25 season. Other men's and women's accolades include the Kopa Trophy (best young player), Yashin Trophy (best goalkeeper), Gerd Muller Trophy (top scorer in club/national team) and Johan Cruyff trophy (best coach in club/national team).

The names are like a who's who of footballing greats: Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Robert Lewandowski, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Andres Iniesta, David Beckham... They've all had glittering careers and won countless trophies, but there's something else they all have in common - none of them has won the men's Ballon d'Or. The prestigious annual award has been handed out since 1956 when two French sportswriters wanted to recognise the world's best talent.

Ousmane Dembele played a key role in helping Paris St-Germain win Ligue 1, become European champions for the first time and reach the final of the Club World Cup. He scored 21 goals from 29 games in Ligue 1 to end the campaign as joint-top scorer. He was also named in the division's team of the season and won the player of the year award.

The email came from a creative advertising agency and the proposal was a potential collaboration in which Gardner would be paid if he was willing to act, in secret, as a social media influencer on behalf of Ousmane Dembele, the Paris Saint-Germain forward. We are exploring a one-month campaign designed to spark dialogue and strengthen the narrative around Ousmane Dembele's candidacy for the Ballon d'Or, the email explained.

"The world has been watching. It will make a very big impact in Africa because we have so many good players and they just need the opportunity to show what they can really do. "It lets others know that everything is achievable and everything is possible. This nomination is not just for me, it is for Africa. "It is for every young girl dreaming to become whatever they want to be. They just have to believe in themselves."

"With everything I've been through in my career, being at the ceremony is already a victory for me. One of the biggest in my professional life. It's not really a goal that I set for myself. My goal is to be better than I was yesterday, to be better than I was last season. So, if I'm at the Ballon d'Or ceremony, that's already a victory for me."

Luka Modric will turn 40 in September, having played 930 games, won seven league titles and six Champions Leagues, and claimed the Ballon d'Or in 2018.