The Best Fifa Awards 2025 live: Fifa crown Ousmane Dembele and Aitana Bonmati as world’s best players
Top players received their awards at Fifa’s answer to prestigious Ballon d’Or
Ousmane Dembele and Aitana Bonmati were crowned the world’s top players at Fifa’s The Best Awards, mirroring the big winners at the Ballon d’Or earlier this year.
Dembele was instrumental in helping PSG to their first Champions League title in their history back in May, scoring 35 goals across all competitions on the way to what is French club’s holy grail.
Barcelona and Spain star Bonmati, meanwhile, picked up the award for a third successive year off the back of another stellar campaign, which saw her reach the finals of both the Women’s Champions League and Euro 2025.
Her side were pipped to the Euros title by England in Switzerland, with Lionesses head coach Sarina Wiegman also victorious in the awards as she was named The Best Women’s Coach.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino - fresh from the World Cup draw ceremony in Washington and the handover of another award, the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize, to Donald Trump - presented the players with the awards in Doha.
Follow along with The Independent’s live blog below.
Your Fifa teams of the year
“Mo Salah? Harry Kane? Declan Rice?”
I have no doubt you’ll all have complaints about certain players missing out... who’s been robbed?
Santiago Montiel's stunning Puskas winner
Straight out of the Philippe Mexes playbook.
Aitana Bonmati: 'I will enjoy it'
“Nothing makes me prouder than being recognized by players, coaches, and fans for the third time in a row,” said Bonmati.
“Thank you for this award. And thanks to my teams and to the people who support me along the way.”
"I will enjoy it.”
Ousmane Dembele: 'Hard work pays off'
"I want to thank all my teammates, it just shows that hard work pays off," Dembele said.
"It's been a fantastic year for me, both individually and collectively. I hope to come back here again next year."
Ousmane Dembele named player of the year at Fifa awards as Sarina Wiegman wins big
Ousmane Dembele has been named the men’s player of the year at Fifa’s The Best Awards while Lionesses coach Sarina Wiegman won big as women’s coach of the year after back-to-back Euro titles.
Dembele was instrumental in PSG's first Champions League triumph when they beat Inter Milan 5-0 in the final and scored 35 goals last season across all competitions, including 21 in Ligue 1 to finish as top scorer.
The 28-year-old, who claimed this year's Ballon d'Or in September, was part of the PSG team which also swept all before them on the domestic front last season and reached the final of the Club World Cup. They were coached by Luis Enrique, who also triumphed at the awards as men’s coach of the year.
Full report:
Ousmane Dembele named player of the year at Fifa awards as Sarina Wiegman wins big
The Best winners in full
Men’s Player - Ousmane Dembele, PSG
Women’s Player - Aitana Bonmati, Barcelona
Men’s Coach - Luis Enrique, PSG
Women’s Coach - Sarina Wiegman, England
Puskas Award - Santiago Montiel, Independiente
Marta Award - Lizabeth Ovalle, Tigres
Sarina Wiegman's acceptance speech in full
Sarina Wiegman wasn’t able to attend the ceremony in Doha but Fifa had a pre-recorded acceptance speech on hand to ensure we didn’t go without a few words from the Lionesses boss.
She said: “Good evening, everyone. I'm sorry I can't be in Doha tonight, but I'm very happy that I'm still part of this evening. Thank you so much.
"It's an absolute honour to receive this award again. I'd like to thank Fifa and everyone who voted, and I'd like to congratulate Sep, Jonatan, Renee and Sonia for their achievements too.
"Thank you to the FA for their continued support for me and the team. This award is actually for players and staff. We've showed so much conviction, belief and togetherness that led us to our second Euro win.
“Moving into 2026, let's keep pushing the women's game forward together and. create an environment for every play, so they can reach their full potential."
Ousmane Dembele joins illustrious group of winners
Ousmane Dembele is in good company as a winner of The Best award.
Tonight was tenth edition of Fifa’s awards, and there are some big names among the previous nine victors...
2024 - Vinicius Jr
2023 - Lionel Messi
2022 - Lionel Messi
2021 - Robert Lewandowski
2020 - Robert Lewandowski
2019 - Lionel Messi
2018 - Luke Modric
2017 - Cristiano Ronaldo
2016 - Cristiano Ronaldo
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