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| Mohamed Salah |
Arabs and Africans ignore Salah for the Golden Ball award.
Egyptian star Mohamed Salah, the Liverpool player, did not receive full support from Arab and African journalists who voted for the 2025 Ballon d'Or, which was won by French winger Ousmane Dembélé of Paris Saint-Germain.
The Egyptian national team captain finished fourth in the 2025 FIFA World Player of the Year rankings, his highest-ever finish, while Frenchman Ousmane Dembélé, the Paris Saint-Germain star, won the award for the first time in his career, beating his closest rivals, Spain's Lamine Yamal and Brazil's Vitina, stars of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, respectively.
French newspaper L'Equipe revealed details of the votes that awarded Dembele the Ballon d'Or.
The prestigious award is awarded through a double voting system. First, journalists from France Football and L'Equipe draw up a joint shortlist of 30 nominees. Then, a journalist from the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings selects the top 10 players from the shortlist, in order. The ten players are awarded 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point, based on the ranking.
If players are tied on points, they are separated by the number of first-place votes they received, if they are also tied, the number of second-place votes is used, and so on.
According to the votes revealed by L'Equipe on its website, four journalists from Arab and African countries placed Egyptian star Mohamed Salah in first place. The journalists are from Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, and South Africa.
For the sixth time, the Ballon d'Or turns its back on Salah.
Salah is among the nominees for the prestigious award for the sixth time in his career, following his outstanding performance with Liverpool last season.Salah could have secured a top spot in the 2025 Ballon d'Or had he been ranked among the top three choices by voting media professionals from other Arab countries.
Unlike Egypt, Bahrain, and Jordan, which ranked Salah first, only two journalists from Oman and Syria ranked him in the top three, placing him second and third, respectively. However, Salah was outside the top three choices for the other three Arab journalists.
Algerian journalist Salah placed him sixth, while Emirati and Saudi journalists placed him seventh, Iraq, Palestine, and Tunisia placed him fifth, and Morocco placed him fourth.
While journalists from Qatar, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea and Uganda ignored the Egyptian star and did not include him in their top 10 list.
As for the African countries, the journalist from Benin placed Salah sixth on his list, while the Liverpool striker was ninth on the list of Angola's representative, tenth for the journalist from Burkina Faso, eighth in the nominations of Côte d'Ivoire, fourth for the journalist from Ghana, and sixth for Gabon and Guinea. The journalist from Mali placed him third, and second for Mozambique. In Nigeria, Salah was chosen third, eighth for the Democratic Republic of Congo, and fifth for Senegal and Zambia.
The Egyptian Pharaoh led Liverpool to their 20th Premier League title last season, equaling the record for most wins in the prestigious competition held by their traditional rivals, Manchester United.
Salah also dominated the Premier League last season, thanks to his impressive performances with Dutch coach Arne Slot's side, which has rekindled his hopes of achieving his dream of winning his first Ballon d'Or.
Salah won the Premier League's top scorer award for the fourth time in his British career, after scoring 29 goals in the competition, a record he shares with retired French star Thierry Henry, the former Arsenal player. He also won the competition's top assist award, having provided 18 assists for his teammates.
Overall, Salah contributed to 57 goals for Liverpool in 52 appearances across all competitions during the 2024-25 season.
The 'Egyptian King', as he is affectionately known by Liverpool fans, has been named the Premier League's Player of the Season, the Football Writers' Association's Player of the Year, and the Professional Footballers' Association's Player of the Year for the third time in his career, making him the player with the most wins in history.
On the international level, Salah led Egypt last season to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals, which will be held in Morocco later this year. The Pharaohs are also on the verge of qualifying for the next World Cup, as they need only two points from their final two matches in the African qualifiers for the tournament against host Djibouti and their guest Guinea-Bissau next month to book a place in the World Cup for the fourth time in their history.
Salah was nominated for the Ballon d'Or for the first time in 2018, finishing sixth with 188 points, before finishing fifth the following year with 178 points.
The Liverpool star finished seventh on the 2021 list, after the award was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He finished fifth in 2022 with 116 points, and eleventh with just 13 points in 2023. He then missed out on the award last year due to his poor form with the Reds at the time.
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