Paris. Ousmane Dembele won the Ballon d’Or on Monday for leading Paris Saint-Germain to its first Champions League title, while Aitana Bonmatí captured the women’s award for a third consecutive year.

Dembele succeeds Manchester City midfielder Rodri, becoming the sixth Frenchman to win the award after Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini, Jean-Pierre Papin, Zinedine Zidane, and Karim Benzema.

Bonmatí edged out Spain teammate Mariona Caldentey, becoming only the third player in history to win three in a row, following Platini (1983–85) and Lionel Messi (2009–12).

The award caps a remarkable turnaround for Dembele, who was sidelined last season by PSG coach Luis Enrique for disciplinary reasons. Once repositioned as a No. 9, he became a scoring force and was pivotal in PSG’s historic Champions League campaign, which also saw the club complete a quadruple.

Dembele contributed both offensively and defensively in PSG’s 5-0 Champions League final win over Inter Milan. He scored 35 goals and recorded 16 assists in 53 official matches, including 8 goals and 6 assists across 15 Champions League appearances.

He received the Ballon d’Or from former winner Ronaldinho and teared up during his acceptance speech, inviting his mother on stage. “It’s incredible to win a trophy like this,” he said in French. “I worked for the team to help win PSG’s first Champions League. To then be rewarded with an individual trophy like the Ballon d’Or is truly exceptional.”

Dembele won ahead of teenage Barcelona star Lamine Yamal, 18, who helped his team win La Liga and the Copa del Rey and reach the Champions League semifinals. Yamal received the Kopa Trophy for the best under-21 player for the second straight year. “I need to keep on working to win other awards in the future,” he said through a translator.

Bonmatí, who overcame viral meningitis just before last summer’s Women’s Euro Championship, also won the tournament’s best player award despite Spain losing to England in a penalty shootout. She captured a domestic treble with Barcelona and reached the Champions League final. “Third time in a row here and I still can’t believe it,” Bonmatí said. “I owe Barcelona everything, this is the club of my life.”

Other honors went to Barcelona forward Vicky Lopez (women’s Kopa Trophy), Sarina Wiegman (Johan Cruyff Award for best women’s coach), and PSG’s Luis Enrique (men’s category). PSG was voted best men’s club, and goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma received the Lev Yashin Award, while England’s Hannah Hampton earned best women’s goalkeeper. Barcelona’s Ewa Pajor and Viktor Gyokeres, recently transferred to Arsenal, won the Gerd Müller trophies for top scorers.