The world’s best football player will be crowned at tonight’s Ballon d’Or; however, two teams will not be in attendance.

Paris St-Germain will not be at the awards event as the Ligue 1 side will be playing a rescheduled match on Monday, September 22, 2025, evening.

The Champions League winners were due to play away at Marseille on Sunday, September 21, 2025, but the match was postponed because of storms expected in the region.

Nine PSG players have been nominated in 2025.

Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Joao Neves are likely to be at the Theatre du Chatelet as they continue to recover from injuries.

Nominees Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Nuno Mendes, Fabian Ruiz, and Vitinha will not be attending as they have been named in Paris Saint-Germain’s unchanged squad for the ‘Le Classique’.

Real Madrid will not be at the Ballon d’Or for the second year in a row.

They were absent from the 2024 ceremony, when forward Vinicius Junior was beaten to best men’s player by Manchester City’s Rodri.

The reason for this year’s absence could be down to scheduling – Real face Levante away in the La Liga on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, evening.

In 2024, the team won club of the year, and then-manager Carlo Ancelotti won the men’s coach award.

Three Real players have been nominated this year: Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.

Mbappe told reporters after Real’s Champions League win over Marseille that he would be watching the Ballon d’Or on TV.

He added that he hopes France team-mate Dembele wins the prestigious award.

Dembele or Yamal?

The winners of the two Ballon d’Or awards – for their performances last season – will be announced at a ceremony at Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris.

But which of the 30 nominees that were announced last month are most likely to win?

Games played: 53 Minutes played: 3,483 Goals: 35 Assists: 14 Goal contributions: 49 Minutes per goal: 99.5 Minutes per goal contribution: 71.1

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 28-year-old was also the Champions League’s player of the season after eight goals and six assists in the tournament, including two assists in the 5-0 final win against Inter Milan.

Dembele then scored in the Club World Cup quarter-final and semi-final victories over Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, respectively.

Games played: 55 Minutes played: 4,548 Goals: 18 Assists: 21 Goal contributions: 39 Minutes per goal: 252.7 Minutes per goal contribution: 116.6

The 18-year-old winger helped Barcelona to the Spanish treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de España.

He won La Liga’s player of the month award in September and was in the La Liga and Champions League teams of the season.

He scored twice for Spain in their 5-4 win over France in the Nations League semi-final, although the side lost on penalties in the final to Portugal.