If we had a 2025 Ballon d'Or vote, here are the nominees we would vote for and why

The Ballon d'Or shortlist arrived on Thursday with a host of the best footballers in the world finding out whether they are in the mix for the sport's most famous prize.

Most of the awards -- but not the Kopa Trophy -- are decided by a panel of 100 journalists from the best footballing nations in the world. It is a select few, a group that changes on an annual basis, and this year it does not include CBS Sports. We're not bitter or anything, promise. Anyway, it's not going to stop us having our say.

Ballon d'Or nominees: Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe, Mohamed Salah and PSG stars make cut

First of all, a note on the procedure. We'll be following the approach of the actual voters: a top 10 for the Ballon d'Ors male and female, a top three for the Yashin trophy awarded to the best goalkeeper, a top two for coach of the year, and our pick for club of the year. Given neither of us have won a Ballon d'Or, we won't get a say on the winner of the Kopa Trophy. As for what we're judging on, the prizes are based on achievements in the 2024-25 season, specifically from August 1 2024, to July 31 2025. So the women's Euros, for instance, very much enters our consideration. The Club World Cup too, though a competition of such debatable merit like that is hardly the be-all and end-all of deciding the best players in the game/

If you've been following our output over the last few months, it won't surprise you who we have top of the tree in the race to win the men's Ballon d'Or. Mohamed Salah's status as front-runner has been, to put it mildly, contentious. The Egyptian forward did not win the Champions League, and most of his best work was done in the early months of the season, setting the stage for Liverpool to romp to a title few expected them to seriously be in the mix for. Ultimately, it is hard to argue with a 34-goal, 23-assist campaigns, all the more so when he matches Premier League records that were set over the course of 42-game seasons.

In pure output terms, there is one player who gets close, Barcelona's Raphinha, another who ended 2024-25 with achievements few could have imagined at the start of the season. He might have had more games in which to do it, but the Brazilian still matched Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 21 goal contributions in a Champions League season, the sort of high watermark that many would have thought unmatchable. The best player in La Liga, too, Raphinha would be a worthy winner, but one wonders if the burgeoning brilliance of Lamine Yamal might split the Barcelona vote.

None of those aforementioned players are the bookmakers' overwhelming favorite, however. You'd have to put a lot down to get good money back if you're picking Ousmane Dembele, the brightest star of Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League triumph. In the end, for many, it is the rings and medals that count the most.

It will be intriguing to see if that translates into voting for the women's Ballon d'Or too. Aitana Bonmati remains the favorite, and it is hard to make much of a case against her or Alexia Putellas being the best player in the world. Then again, in the biggest games of the season, those Barcelona teammates were defeated. Should one of Arsenal's English players, perhaps Alessia Russo or Leah Williamson, be judged the best player in the world because of what happened in the Champions League and Euros final?

There is no right answer to that question. It is what makes the debate around the Ballon d'Or so intriguing, frequently toxic and faintly ludicrous (looking at you, sulking Real Madrid). This is a team sport after all, so is the best individual player the won who made the biggest contribution to the winningest team, or the one who just delivered the greatest output? Are we team 2017 Russell Westbrook or Kawhi Leonard? It is invariably more art than science, but at some point you have to decide. That time is now, so here's who we would be voting for to win the 2025 Ballons d'Or:

Men's voting done by James Benge; Women's voting done by Pardeep Cattry.

1. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/Egypt)
2. Raphinha (Barcelona/Brazil)
3. Ousmane Dembele (PSG/France)
4. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG and Napoli/Georgia)
5. Pedri (Barcelona/Spain)
6. Lamine Yamal (Barcelona/Spain)
7. Achraf Hakimi (PSG/Morocco)
8. Vitinha (PSG/Portugal)
9. Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
10. Cole Palmer (Chelsea/England)

1. Alessia Russo (Arsenal/England)
2. Esther Gonzalez (Gotham FC/Spain)
3. Ann-Katrin Berger (Gotham FC/Germany)
4. Mariona Caldentey (Arsenal/Spain)
5. Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona/Spain)
6. Hannah Hampton (Chelsea/England)
7. Alexia Putellas (Barcelona/Spain)
8. Temwa Chawinga (KC Current/Malawi)
9. Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride/Zambia)
10. Lucy Bronze (Chelsea/England)

1. Ann-Katrin Berger (Gotham FC/Germany)
2. Hannah Hampton (Chelsea/England)
3. Cata Coll (Barcelona/Spain)

1. Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
2. Alisson (Liverpool/Brazil)
3. David Raya (Arsenal/Spain)

1. Luis Enrique (PSG)
2. Hansi Flick (Barcelona)

1. Sarina Wiegman (England)
2. Seb Hines (Orlando Pride)
3. Renee Slegers (Arsenal)