Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah leads the race for the 2025 Ballon d’Or after his blistering form in the first half of the season, but it looks as though he’ll face serious competition in the coming months.
Star players from Newcastle United, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich are among those who have kicked off the calendar year with a bang as they go gunning for the Egyptian King’s crown.
Here are six players who have started 2025 with Ballon d’Or-worthy displays.
Alan Shearer finished third in the Ballon d’Or voting back in 1996, a few months after leaving Blackburn Rovers. That’s the only time that Newcastle United have had a player on the podium.
For the first time since Shearer’s pomp, the Magpies might just have a bonafide Ballon d’Or contender in their ranks. Isak is unlikely to seriously enter the conversation for this year’s award unless he keeps this up and fires Newcastle to an against-all-odds title charge.
But on present form the Sweden international looks the best No.9 in world football. He’s scored 12 goals in his last 11 appearances for Newcastle, firing them to a club-record nine successive wins in all competitions, including statement victories over Manchester United, Aston Villa, Arsenal and Tottenham.
He’s now just four Premier League games short of breaking Jamie Vardy’s famous scoring streak for Leicester in 2015.
Barcelona’s 5-1 win over Real Betis in the Copa del Rey in midweek was routine enough not to make too many waves, but those who watched it will have been wowed by Yamal.
Given what the 17-year-old has already achieved, it ought to have been no surprise to see him produce a dazzling display. But some have talked up his performance as something of a flagship – like Lionel Messi against Getafe way back when – when he stepped up and consistently toyed with an opposition that couldn’t live with him.
The prodigy has scored in all three of appearances in 2025 so far, and bettered his excellent goal against Athletic Bilbao with an even better one in Barcelona’s 5-2 mauling of Real Madrid in the Super Cup final.
Believe the hype. You’re already looking at one of the best players in the world.
Yamal isn’t the only Barcelona star that has shone since their winter break.
Raphinha produced some of the best football of his career in the first half of the campaign, stepping things up with a hat-trick against Bayern Munich and a goal and assist in the 4-0 thrashing of Real Madrid a few days later.
But his output just dipped a bit as Barcelona ended the year on a disappointing note, suffering a rotten run of form to fall six points behind Atletico Madrid in the La Liga title race.
The time off seems to have done both the player and his team-mates good as they’ve bounced back to make a roaring start to 2025. Another two goals and assist in the Super Cup victory over Madrid suggests he’s locked in to challenge Salah for the Ballon d’Or this year.
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Aside from Lionel Messi, who’d signed for Inter Miami by the time he picked up the 2023 Ballon d’Or for his World Cup exploits, you have to go back to Dynamo Kyiv’s Igor Belanov back in 1986 to find a Ballon d’Or winner from outside Europe’s five major leagues.
And Benfica legend Eusebio, back in 1965, to find the only Ballon d’Or winner at a Portuguese club.
We can safely predict Gyokeres won’t be challenging for it this year unless Sporting do something truly wild in the Champions League. But the former Coventry City striker could scarcely be doing more in Portugal and will surely be on the move this summer.
The 26-year-old scored a hat-trick within 57 minutes of his first appearance in 2025, taking him to 21 goals in just 17 Primeira Liga appearances this year.
Then he scored a match-winner against Porto and once again in the Super Cup final and converted his spot-kick as Sporting lost on penalties.
Alright, Kane hasn’t done anything spectacular in 2025… yet. A penalty against Borussia Monchengladbach and a goal and assist in a 5-0 against Hoffenheim aren’t anything to shout home about by the England captain’s lofty standards.
But it’s that dead-eyed consistency that means you’ll surely have to retire all your Kane trophy jokes come the end of the season. Only Mohamed Salah has scored more goals across Europe’s five major leagues, which is some going when you consider Kane has only made 15 Bundesliga appearances.
Bayern have a four-point lead at the summit of the Bundesliga table. With Kane averaging a goal a game, they shouldn’t be written off in the Champions League either.
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Newcastle United aren’t the only club making history at the minute.
After a dodgy start to the season in which Diego Simeone looked unsure of his best team, Atletico Madrid have come roaring back.
They ended 2024 on a high note with a brilliant smash-and-grab victory at Barcelona and have since moved six points clear and set a new club record with 14 consecutive wins in all competitions.
As ever with Simeone’s Atleti, this is a collective effort. Antoine Griezmann, Alexander Sorloth and Clement Lenglet – yes, really – are all earning their stripes, but special mention for Alvarez who is looking well worth the mammoth £81.5million fee they paid Manchester City for his services.
The Argentinian forward scored the vital match-winner against Osasuna last weekend and followed that up with the fourth in Atleti’s stylish 4-0 Copa del Rey victory at Elche in midweek.
2025-01-17T08:18:26Z