The SportsClub Editor formed part of the group of journalist around the world to have casted his vote for the covenant award.

Gleeson voted for Mohammed Salah to win the award, while Ousmane Dembélé was second followed by Lamine Yamal in third place while Vitinha and Achraf Hakimi are placed fourth and fifth.

Making up the rest of his list, Gleeson ranked Raphinha, Kylian Mbappe, Désiré Doué, Harry Kane and Cole Palmer to complete his top 10.

Here is how Africa voted in the 2025 Ballon d’Or:

@algeriafooty Here’s how Africa voted in the Ballon d’Or… 🏆 #dembele #ballondor #yamal #mbappe #fyp ♬ original sound – Dean | دين

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Barcelona duo Lamine Yamal and Vicky Lopez walked away with the Kopa Trophy, while PSG manager Luis Enrique and USA coach Sarina Wiegman claimed the Johan Cruyff Trophy.

Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and Chelsea shot-stopper Hannah Hampton won the Yachine Trophy, while Arsenal striker Victor Gyökeres and Barcelona’s Ewa Pajor secured the Gerd Müller Trophy.

Arsenal Women and Paris Saint-Germain men’s team were named as the Club of the Year, while the Xana Foundation claimed the Socrates Award.

Here are the list of winners:

Men’s Ballon d’Or: Ousmane Dembélé
Women’s Ballon d’Or: Aitana Bonmati
Socrates Award: Xana Foundation
Men’s Club of the Year: Paris Saint-Germain
Women’s Club of the Year: Arsenal
Gerd Müller Trophy: Victor Gyökeres
Women’s Gerd Müller Trophy: Ewa Pajor
Yachine Trophy: Gianluigi Donnarumma
Women’s Yachine Trophy: Hannah Hampton
Johan Cruyff Trophy: Luis Enrique
Women’s Johan Cruyff Trophy: Sarina Wiegman
Kopa Trophy: Lamine Yamal
Kopa Trophy: Vicky Lopez

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This exciting transformation followed the announcement of Hollywoodbets as the main sponsor, marking a significant new chapter in South Africa’s women’s cricket.

The professionalisation of women’s cricket now allows the top 6 teams, which make up Division 1, to contract 11 players each, further bolstered by the addition of high-performance and nationally contracted players.

This marks a significant step in elevating the standard of women’s cricket, ensuring a competitive and well-resourced environment for players at the highest level.

Looking forward to the season ahead, the captains of the six Division 1 teams are focused on elevating their performance and contributing to their teams’ success, with personal goals ranging from consistency and discipline to continuous improvement and making impactful plays in critical moments

We caught up with a few of them to find out what specific personal goals they have set for themselves and how they believe their skills and experience contribute to the team’s overall strategy and performance. This is what they had to say…

Knights Captain, Izel Cilliers: This season, I really want to focus on being more consistent with my batting and stepping up in those nail-biting moments. I think my experience can help guide the younger players.

Lions Captain, Kgomotso Rapoo: My personal goals are quite simple: always be 1% better than the previous season. Playing as a leg-spin all-rounder is not that easy, but my coming to bat in the middle will help our team, especially with the mindset role I’m playing.

WP Women’s Captain, Leah Jones: My goal for this season is just to be the best disciplined version of myself, meaning that I want to be a more disciplined cricketer in all areas (on and off the field). I think we’re a team that has a lot of talented and hardworking players, so I would like to take lots of wickets, especially big wickets, score lots of runs, save runs in the field, and take catches (easy or difficult) so that I can contribute to our team winning games.

Hollywoodbets Dolphins Pro50 Captain, Nondumiso Shangase: My goal is to make more runs and bowl more overs than last season. My team is strong, and we have talented players who can take the game away from the opposition. My experience and skills are just the cherry on top. As far as inspiration goes, Coach Dinesha is playing a huge role in my life; she has changed the way I see the game and the way I play. The support we receive is really important; it boosts us and encourages us to do well.

Fidelity Titans Captain, Masabata Klaas: My personal goals for this season is to make sure that I always contribute to the team and ensuring that I’m giving my best in the field of play with the experience I have from the National Team I believe that it makes a huge difference in the team with regards to the way I’m always willing to help out other players..

Six Gun Grill Garden Route Badgers Captain, Nicolien Janse van Rensburg: My goal for this season is to be the best version of myself and to do everything possible and what is expected of me to help my team win games. I think the passion I have for the game will also inspire my teammates to give it their all and to leave everything out on the field every single game.

The Series provides a platform for rising stars and seasoned professionals to shine, bringing world-class cricket to fans across the country.

Fans are encouraged to join the excitement, either in-stadium or by tuning in to the CSA YouTube channel for the live coverage.

Issued from Cricket South Africa
Image Credit: Gallo Images

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With Real Madrid’s Liga and Champions League double winner Vinicius Junior was regarded as the pre-ceremony favourite, the choice to give the world’s best player award to the deep-lying midfielder was unexpected.

The Spanish club declared hours before the Paris celebrations that its delegation would not be attending the ceremony at the Chatelet Theatre due to what it believed to be Vinicius’s rejection.

The 28-year-old Rodri was voted player of the tournament at Euro 2024 as an underdog Spain won in Germany, and he was instrumental in City defeating Arsenal to win the Premier League title the previous season.

The news seemed to have leaked, since Madrid announced hours before the event that they would not be attending, even though the French organisers insisted that the winner’s name was a closely-guarded secret this year.

After leading her team to an unprecedented continental quadruple of trophies and winning the Nations League with her nation, Barcelona and Spain star Aitana Bonmati previously won her second consecutive women’s Ballon d’Or.

The controversy began hours before the presentation when Real Madrid, the Spanish and European champions, said that his colleague Dani Carvajal should receive the trophy if Vinicius did not win.

Carvajal scored, like the Brazilian, as the team defeated Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Wembley in the Champions League final.

consecutive women’s Ballon d’Or, following her country’s Nations League victory and her club’s historic continental quadruple of titles.

Jude Bellingham, Fede Valverde, Antonio Rudiger, and Kylian Mbappe were also candidates from Madrid.

A global panel of 100 specialised journalists selects the winner of the Ballon d’Or from the shortlist.

The former Atletico Madrid midfielder is known for his ability to win balls in the middle of the pitch and for his metronomic passing. He also has a flair for scoring important goals for his team and his country.

Rodri is so important to the teams he plays for that each of Manchester City’s last four Premier League losses has occurred when the player Guardiola has dubbed “irreplaceable” has not been in the squad. In addition to winning City their first Champions League in 2023, he also scored crucial goals for Spain, including his equaliser in their last-16.

Since February 2023, Rodri has gone 52 games without losing in the Premier League.

Although City is presently leading the Premier League, Rodri’s anterior cruciate ligament injury in September ended his chances of winning a fifth consecutive domestic title, setting a new record.

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Messi, 36, took over the award from Karim Benzema because of how well he played last season and how he led Argentina to victory at the World Cup in Qatar.

“The last one I won was also thanks to what we achieved with the Argentine national team in the Copa America (in 2021), but this one is much more special because it comes after we won the World Cup,” Messi told various media including AFP after collecting his award at a ceremony in Paris.

“That is the trophy everyone wants to win the most, and it was a dream come true for me, my teammates and my country.”

It was the highlight of his amazing career when he led Argentina to victory in Qatar. It also helped him beat Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to win the Ballon d’Or.

Haaland came in second, Mbappe came in third, and Kevin De Bruyne came in fourth.

After Argentina beat France on penalties in the World Cup final in Doha, Messi was named the tournament’s best player. He scored seven goals in the tournament.

Even though Messi won his first Ballon d’Or in 2009, his last season at Paris Saint-Germain wasn’t great either. He left to play for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.

Some people thought he might try for another Ballon d’Or, maybe after the next World Cup in 2026, when he will be 39 years old.

“I am not thinking about the long-term future. I am just enjoying the day to day at the moment,” he said.

“We have a Copa America coming up in the United States, where I am now, in which we are the holders, so I am looking forward to coming into that in good shape and then just see how I am getting on from there.”

Messi said when he got back to Paris that his two years at PSG had not gone the way he had hoped when he signed there from Barcelona in 2021.

“Things didn’t turn out as I hoped but I enjoyed the city a lot, and my kids liked it a lot and found it hard to leave,” he said.

“It is a spectacular city and I was lucky to live here. Football-wise it did not go the way I hoped but I prefer to remember the many good things.”

Photo by EPA/MOHAMMED BADRA

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The 20-year-old has had a great start to his Real career. He scored two goals in Saturday’s 2-1 Clasico win over Barcelona, giving him 13 goals in his first 13 games for the Spanish giants.

But the Kopa Trophy is a reward for how well he played last season. In his last season with Borussia Dortmund, they finished second in the Bundesliga with 14 goals scored in 42 games. He also helped England get to the World Cup quarterfinals in Qatar.

“I am really grateful to Dortmund for the opportunities they gave me over the years and especially last year, to be a leading player and someone who helped the team to win games,” Bellingham told AFP and other media after collecting his prize.

“I think I took that responsibility on quite well and all said I think I had a good year so I am very happy.”

He takes over the trophy named after former Real Madrid and France star Raymond Kopa from midfielder Gavi, who played for Barcelona and Spain.

Previous winners of the men’s Ballon d’Or vote for this award, which has also been given to Kylian Mbappe and Matthijs de Ligt.

Also, Bellingham came in 18th place for this year’s Ballon d’Or, which is the most prestigious individual award in football.

Bellingham is now living in Spain and wants to have a season of success with his club and country that makes him a real contender for the Ballon d’Or next year.

“The aim is to try to win everything with England and with Madrid,” he said of his objectives for the months ahead.

“It is important that I try to give everything I have got at the moment towards that.”

Of England’s prospects at the upcoming European Championship in Germany, he added: “I am definitely confident, we are one of the favourites going into the tournament now and it is important that we quit the talking and finally perform in front of our fans.”

Photo by EPA/MOHAMMED BADRA

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Karim Benzema won the award before Messi, 36, took it over. Messi won because of how well he played last season and how he led Argentina to victory at the World Cup.

Especially Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland gave Messi a lot of trouble, but it was his play in Qatar that helped his country win the game that made his career complete.

The final vote put Haaland in second place, Mbappe in third, and Kevin De Bruyne in fourth.

Messi scored seven goals at the World Cup, and after Argentina beat France on penalties in the final in Doha, he was named the tournament’s best player.

However, Messi, who won his first Ballon d’Or in 2009, also had a disappointing last season at Paris Saint-Germain before leaving to play in Major League Soccer for Inter Miami.

Mbappe, his old teammate at PSG, made his case with his amazing play at the World Cup, where he scored eight goals and scored a hat-trick in the final for France.

Haaland, a Norwegian striker, scored 52 goals in 53 games for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City team, which won the English Premier League, the FA Cup, and the Champions League.

As part of that City team, he and De Bruyne were nominated.

Photo by EPA/MOHAMMED BADRA

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Bonmati wins the award instead of her teammate Alexia Putellas. Putellas led Spain to victory at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year.

The 25-year-old midfielder was named the best player at the World Cup. The Spanish team won the trophy despite problems off the pitch, such as protests against their national federation and coach Jorge Vilda.

She was also a big reason why Barcelona won the Champions League last year, and she was just named the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year.

She was one of 30 people nominated for the award. The other three were all members of the winning Spain team: Alba Redondo, Salma Paralluelo, and full-back Olga Carmona, who scored the game-winning goal.

Sam Kerr, a forward for Chelsea and Australia, came in second place in the final vote. Paralluelo, who played with Bonmati at Barcelona, came in third.

Putellas, who plays with Bonmati at Barcelona, wasn’t nominated because he hurt his knee badly last season and missed almost all of the season.

He had won the Ballon d’Or for the last two seasons in a row. Ada Hegerberg from Norway won the first award in 2018, and Megan Rapinoe from the United States took it over a year later.

There was no winner in 2020 because of the flu.

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The 20-year-old has had a great start to his Real career. He scored two goals in Saturday’s 2-1 Clasico win over Barcelona, giving him 13 goals in his first 13 games for the Spanish giants.

But the Kopa Trophy is a reward for how well he played last season. In his last season with Borussia Dortmund, they finished second in the Bundesliga with 14 goals scored in 42 games. He also helped England get to the World Cup quarterfinals in Qatar.

He is the new winner of the trophy named after Raymond Kopa, a star player for Real Madrid and France who also played for Barcelona and Spain.

The award is chosen by former winners of the men’s Ballon d’Or. Kylian Mbappe and Matthijs de Ligt are two other past winners.

Bellingham also came in 18th place for this year’s Ballon d’Or, which is the most prestigious individual award in football.

Photo by EPA/MOHAMMED BADRA

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Lionel Messi is a shoe-in to pick up the his eighth victory in the men’s category after his heroics in helping Argentina to the World Cup title in Qatar late last year.

It seems inconceivable he won’t win, even as he comes up against another star from that tournament, France’s Kylian Mbappe. Current holder Karim Benzema is surely there to just make up the numbers.

The women’s category is a little tighter with Beth Mead (England/Arsenal), Alex Morgan (USA/Orlando Pride/San Diego Wave) and Alexia Putellas (Spain/FC Barcelona) all nominated though the latter is likely the favourite to win for a second year in a row.

The winners are to be announced in October.

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