Ballon d'Or 2025 nominees have been announced — but who are the favourites?
Ten players from PSG, including Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha, are nominated following their treble-winning season and maiden Champions League victory.
Ousmane Dembele is currently the bookies' favourite for the 2025 Ballon d'Or, with Barcelona 's Lamine Yamal also among the favourites for the award.
Premier League stars Mohamed Salah and Cole Palmer are among the nominees, alongside Barcelona 's Lamine Yamal and Napoli's Scott McTominay.
The awards ceremony is scheduled for 22 September at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, where other accolades like the Kopa Trophy and Yashin Trophy will also be presented.
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Daily Mail
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- Daily Mail
Rangers boss Russell Martin won't let dressing-room 'mole' stop him from naming his line-ups early in future
Russell Martin insists he's 'not overly stressed' about the mole in his dressing room after the Rangers team was leaked before their Champions League qualifying win over Viktoria Plzen on Tuesday night. Unhappy with his players after a 1-1 draw at Motherwell last weekend, the Ibrox boss made the bold decision to drop skipper James Tavernier and star midfielder Nicolas Raskin for the visit of the Czech side, along with striker Danilo and attacker Kieran Dowell. His team selection, which saw new signing Oliver Antman join Jefte, Lyall Cameron and Cyriel Dessers in the starting XI, was widely known hours before kick-off. It had no bearing on the result or performance, with Rangers winning 3-0 to take a commanding lead into the second leg next Tuesday. But, asked about the supposed leak, Martin said: 'I was told when I turned up to the stadium because I'm not on any social media. I can't really control any of that. It has become more common in the modern game. 'I don't think anyone would do it from inside this building to intentionally hurt us. 'I always name the team really early as a coach or manager. It means people don't waste time or energy wondering if they're in the team and we can work on certain things. 'But it's the modern game. People are left out, they tell their agents, friends and family — then somehow it gets to the media quickly. 'I trust that no one does it to try and hurt us intentionally. I've said to the guys, it's not ideal. But I'm also not going to lose sleep over it. 'I'm not sure it changes the opposition's plan eight hours before a game as they'll have done pretty much all of their work by then, I presume. 'There's enough stuff in this job to be concerned about and to focus on all the time. 'So I'm not going to overly stress about the team being leaked.' Martin will again be without Mikey Moore, Thelo Aasgaard and Hamza Igamane for tomorrow's visit of Dundee in the Premiership. Moore — a 17-year-old loanee from Tottenham — is still waiting on international clearance, while Aasgaard and Igamane are working their way back to full fitness. Martin is hoping to have Moore available for the trip to the Czech Republic on Tuesday, adding: 'We're still not quite there with Mikey. which is frustrating for him and for us. 'Because he's deemed a minor by FIFA (he turns 18 on Monday) there's a lot of protocol to go through and we aren't there yet. 'It can take a while. He's 18 soon, so he'd be available then for us. We might have to wait until then. But hopefully we'll get him ready for Tuesday.' On Aasgaard and Igamane, the former Southampton boss said: 'They've both made good steps in the last few days. They're working hard with the rehab guys, but not ready to be involved with the squad. 'Hamza missed two weeks because of the Visa thing (problem) so was behind the group. We've tried to speed up the process so that he's ready to train. 'But he played his first minutes and picked up an injury because the intensity was different. So now we have to get him really ready to perform and not risk being injured again. 'In terms of the speculation, we've not had any bids for Hamza and he's a really good lad. 'He's got on with it and is working hard with his English and everything else. He just needs to get fully fit.'
Daily Mail
a minute ago
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Wonderkid was well worth the wait, new boy offers glimpse into life without Nicolas Jackson while Mad Marc is team's No 1 scrapper: Things We Learned from Chelsea's 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen
Chelsea finally played their first pre-season friendly as they beat Erik ten Hag 's Bayer Leverkusen with their brand new wonderkid Estevao Willian starting and scoring. Their first Premier League opponents will be Crystal Palace, for example, and Oliver Glasner 's side played their first behind-closed-doors friendly against Millwall on July 12. That was a day before Chelsea played Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup in the United States on July 13 followed by a three-week break. Here, Daily Mail Sport's Chelsea correspondent Kieran Gill reveals five things he learned from this Friday night fixture at Stamford Bridge. ESTE-WOW IS WORTH THE WAIT Chelsea's supporters had to wait a long while for Estevao Willian. Fourteen months to be exact, as it was in May 2024 when the club confirmed they had signed a Brazilian wonderkid who would arrive from Palmeiras once 18 years old. In that time, they had seen so many clips of his mercurial brilliance, including at the Club World Cup when he scored against Chelsea from what looked like an impossible angle. Here, he took 17 minutes to score for them. He spent the first half on the right wing, the second half at No 10, and for all the mocking of Chelsea's transfer strategy, this boy from Brazil seems that special type of talent for whom you would happily pay the admission fee to watch. MAD MARC IS A SCRAPPER Brighton chief executive Paul Barber held a fan Q&A session this week and when asked on Chelsea, he jokingly described them as 'my best customer' after so many sales. Marc Cucurella is no longer the £63million waste of money he was once considered, however. He is Chelsea's cult hero who does not appear to know the meaning of the word 'friendly'. Cucurella was getting stuck into Leverkusen here and when Jarell Quansah left a naughty tackle in on Palmer, who was there to give the former Liverpool defender a piece of his mind? Cucurella, of course. Rumour has it Chelsea may reward him with an updated contract soon. NO NICO, BUT CHELSEA HAVE STRIKER OPTIONS Liam Delap started as Chelsea's striker while Joao Pedro scored after coming on as a substitute. Nicolas Jackson was nowhere to be seen after Daily Mail Sport revealed he had been excluded from the squad for this friendly while the club work on selling him. If Jackson does leave as expected, Chelsea may not need to search for a emergency third-choice striker, even if Marc Guiu has been loaned to Sunderland. Maresca believes Estevao could be used as a false nine along with Palmer and Pedro Neto if need be. COVER FOR COLWILL Levi Colwill's ACL injury suffered in their first training session back in pre-season was devastating news for Chelsea given how crucial he was to their last campaign. They are considering whether they need to make a move for a central defender this month, but Josh Acheampong was used as the left-sided centre back here. It is an important position under Maresca as that player is expected to shuffle across when the left back inverts into midfield. Acheampong, 19, performed well, with Aaron Anselmino, 20, replacing him late on. Jorrel Hato can also be used as a left-sided centre back as well as a left back, which is where the £37m signing from Ajax played here after replacing Cucurella at half-time. MIDFIELD MEN HERE TO HELP There was no Romeo Lavia in the Chelsea squad after he picked up yet another injury during the Club World Cup and last season saw a heavy reliance on Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez in midfield. They needed help for the next campaign and they now have that in Dario Essugo and Andrey Santos, the 21-year-old Brazilian who last season enjoyed an excellent loan with their sister club Strasbourg in France. Santos' return for the forthcoming season is a big reason why Chelsea allowed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to leave for Everton in a £25million permanent move this week. Chelsea marked their return to action following last month's Club World Cup triumph with a 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in their penultimate pre-season outing. In a lop-sided match at Stamford Bridge, the Blues made an early breakthrough in the first half when Estevao found the net on 18 minutes.
The Sun
a minute ago
- The Sun
Chelsea 2 Bayer Leverkusen 0: Joao Pedro and Estevao bring Brazilian brilliance to Stamford Bridge
CHELSEA hardly needed to play like world-beaters to see off lacklustre Leverkusen. But there was plenty for the Blues to feel positive about from their first game as world champions. 4 4 4 4 Play Dream Team now! Estevao's goal and all-round first-half performance on his debut was the undoubted highlight, before Club World Cup hero Joao Pedro made it two late on. And although boss Enzo Maresca regularly showed frustration with his team, this was a decent showing from a group of players with less than a week of training under their belt. Maresca gave 10 outfield substitutes a run out without losing control of a game that at times had a bit more needle than he would have liked. The way Cole Palmer linked up with Estevao will have pleased the Chelsea head coach. The challenge which former Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah put in on Palmer will have had him wincing. Especially after losing defender Levi Colwill to ACL surgery after a knock picked up in the very first training session since the CWC victory. Palmer was incensed, and his team-mates backed him up in a brief outbreak of handbags. Yet it was Chelsea who looked the fresher team. Former Bundesliga champions Leverkusen had been working together for a full pre-season under new boss Erik ten Hag. But they felt like one of Ten Hag's old Manchester United teams: flat and toothless up front, having lost playmaker Florian Wirtz and wing-back Jeremie Frimpong to Liverpool. Chelsea star Levi Colwill to miss almost entire season as he undergoes emergency ACL surgery in huge blow to Maresca Blues goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen made only a couple of routine saves and the visitors were unable to capitalise on the odd defensive error. Otherwise it was all Chelsea. Marc Cucurella and Estevao had shots blocked before the Brazilian started and finished the key move of the match. After retrieving the ball near the halfway line, the right winger played in Cucurella, whose pass inside fell for Palmer. The No10s lob came back off the bar but Estevao volleyed it home. Chelsea's new No9, Liam Delap, had two decent sights of goal but was denied each time by former Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken. Delap might have done better, particularly with the first opportunity from Cucurella's cross. Estevao saw a shot blocked by Piero Hincapie's head just before the break. Palmer went off at half time, presumably as a precaution rather than because of any lasting damage from Quansah's foul. Estevao took his place in the No10 position, leaving Pedro Neto to 'follow that' on the right wing. The young Brazilian had been less impressive in the second half yet had a chance to make the night even more special. But he pulled a good chance wide before being replaced with 15 minutes to go to a loud ovation from the crowd. Neto forced a decent save from Flekken and Chelsea were on the verge of settling for a scoreline that did not reflect their superiority. But Joao Pedro put some extra shine on a night lit up by his fellow Brazilian Estevao with a last-gasp second.
