When the time comes to call time on his playing career, Ousmane Dembele would be forgiven for being particularly misty-eyed when he reflects on a 2024/25 season in which he was firing on all cylinders. Following a positional switch that sparked a transformation on the pitch, in a matter of months the versatile Frenchman emerged as a fearsome No9 in ruthless pursuit of goals and trophies alike.
With Paris Saint-Germain, he picked up an almost unprecedented haul of silverware by securing the Trophee des Champions, the Ligue 1 championship, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League title and the UEFA Super Cup. Dembele also claimed some individual honours, finishing as the top goalscorer and being recognised as the best player in the French top flight, in addition to being named the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Player of the Season. The final crowning glory for his achievements in the 2024/25 campaign came in Doha on Tuesday, when he was named The Best FIFA Men’s Player for 2025.
Here, FIFA looks back at three pivotal moments from a season to remember for Dembele.
A game-changing transformation
In December 2024, PSG coach Luis Enrique decided to redeploy Dembele as a No9, and it is impossible to overstate just how much of a masterstroke this proved to be. Having been accustomed to operating on the right flank, the former Rennes man had, until then, been more of a pacy provider than a cool finisher. In his new position, much closer to the final third, Dembele quickly became a deadly goalscoring machine. Finding some much‑awaited consistency, he strung together a long run of matches and almost invariably found the back of the net.
The numbers speak for themselves: the former Barcelona man scored five goals in his first 13 Ligue 1 matches when playing as a winger. After moving to play through the middle from 15 December, he notched up 16 goals in as many matches. “Switching positions made me much more lethal,” the player also told FIFA in May. With his decisiveness, efficiency, enthusiasm and durability, Dembele had all the ingredients necessary to succeed as a centre-forward.
Domestic glory
When the final whistle was blown in PSG’s 3-1 win over Auxerre on 17 May 2025 – the 34th and final matchday in Ligue 1 – Dembélé was crowned the leading goalscorer in France’s top tier for the first time in his career. The 28-year-old forward’s 21-goal haul – level with Marseille marksman Mason Greenwood but with fewer coming from the penalty spot – made him the sixth PSG player in history to take the accolade, following in the footsteps of Carlos Bianchi, Pauleta, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe. The “Pichichi” award had been dominated by the France captain for six consecutive seasons before he joined Real Madrid in June 2024.
Revelling in his new position, Dembele stepped up superbly in January and February 2025 when he scored nine goals in just six Ligue 1 matches, including a hat-trick in his team’s 5-2 win against Brest. Ultimately, the ex-Borussia Dortmund player improved sevenfold on the three goals he scored in his first season at the Parc des Princes and smashed a longstanding personal best of the 12 goals he scored for Rennes in 2015/16. “I wanted to have a great season, score a lot of goals and be decisive, and that’s what I did,” the player told his club’s official website. Having dazzled on the domestic scene, he also proved to be just as impressive on the European stage.
Making history in Europe
Having conquered the domestic scene, Dembele also went on to reach the pinnacle of continental club football. When his side beat Inter Milan 5-0 in the UEFA Champions League final on 31 May, they went down in footballing folklore as only the second French side to have reigned supreme in Europe’s premier club competition, following the success of Marseille in 1993.
PSG’s Champions League triumph owed a great deal to their striker, who delivered one outstanding display after another all the way to the final. The jet-heeled attacker hit top form at the start of the year, with six goals in four Champions League matches in January and February, including a hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Stuttgart on Matchday 8 of the league phase.
He was instrumental once again in the knockout stage, bagging a brace against Brest, hitting the mark against both Liverpool and Arsenal, and claiming two assists in the final. These performances led to him being named the UEFA Champions League Player of the Season.
He said: “It’s great, they are fantastic numbers and my best in the Champions League. Being voted best player in the competition is something special. I was very happy because when you see all the players who play in this competition, the greats are all there! When you are told that you were the best player, it’s incredible! It’s been the best season of my career. Winning the Champions League is hard. We talk about it all the time at club and international level… when you have a season like that and win the biggest trophy of all, it’s just amazing.”
PSG had the opportunity to put the cherry on top of their campaign at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, and Luis Enrique’s side swept away all comers before being defeated 3-0 by Chelsea in the final. Dembele, who sat out the group stage with an injury, hit the ground running on his return to action.
He scored in both the 2-0 last-eight victory over Bayern Munich the 4-0 dismantling of Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
Those strikes added to an ever-growing list that will surely cement this remarkable footballer’s legacy.
