Another year has passed, and once again, the Ballon d’Or has slipped through Mo Salah’s grasp. By the time the next award is handed out, the Liverpool star will be 34 years old, yet he remains without football’s most prestigious individual prize.
Despite being the highest-paid Premier League player among the 2025 Ballon d’Or nominees, Salah finished fourth, behind Vitinha, Lamine Yamal, and eventual winner Ousmane Dembele (BBC Sport). His impressive 2024/25 campaign, in which he recorded 34 goals and 23 assists, wasn’t enough to secure him a spot in the top three.
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has argued that Salah would have lifted the award if Liverpool, rather than Paris Saint-Germain, had triumphed in the Champions League. Instead, Dembele’s standout performances on Europe’s biggest stage swung the vote in his favour.
Salah shockingly left off by 11 journalists
Further details of the voting process, revealed by Egyptian journalist Ismael Mahmoud on X, have left Liverpool fans stunned.
Only four journalists — representing Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, and South Africa — ranked Salah as their number one choice.
Even more surprising, 11 journalists didn’t include Salah in their top ten at all, with voters from Qatar, Romania, Mexico, Equatorial Guinea, Georgia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Albania, Panama, Switzerland, and Uganda completely ignoring the Liverpool forward’s stellar season.
A legendary career missing a Ballon d’Or
Egypt’s head coach Hossam Hassan stated that Salah “deserves to win the Ballon d’Or for his years of brilliance, excellence, and creativity in the toughest league in the world.” However, the 2025 award always seemed destined for Dembele, given PSG’s dominant run to Champions League glory.
Back in 2019, the only year Salah won the Champions League, he finished fifth in the Ballon d’Or rankings. That year, Lionel Messi won the award, while teammates Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane placed second and fourth, respectively (GOAL).
History suggests that players from teams winning major international or club tournaments — like the World Cup, European Championship, or Champions League — tend to dominate the voting. For Salah to finally be crowned the world’s best, Liverpool may need to claim another Champions League title.
Salah’s remarkable consistency and incredible goal-scoring record, paired with Liverpool’s sustained success, make a strong case for him to be recognised as the world’s top player. It would be a huge disappointment if he were to retire without a Ballon d’Or to his name.
Still, if Salah can lead Liverpool to another Premier League or Champions League trophy in 2026, fans will no doubt see that as the perfect consolation.
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