FIFA, which announced the result of its vote to FIFA Men’s Player of the Month on Tuesday, voted Lionel Messi, the captain of the Argentina World Cup-winning team, in support of his former Barcelona teammate Ousmane Dembele. The revelation was following the official award of FIFA Men Player of the Month Dembele at FIFA Best Awards in Doha.
Dembele who plays currently at Paris Saint-Germain narrowly won the individual honour over the teenage sensation at Barcelona Lamine Yamal and France captain Kylian Mbappe took the third position in the final voting. The former winner of the award, Messi picked Mbappe as second and Yamal as the third choice. FIFA also releases voting choices made by national team captains, coaches, and media representatives of every member association, which provides an idea of how the football elites perceive the best players in the game.
The decisions that Messi made were based on experience and the new talent as he was appreciating the dominance of Dembele and at the same time appreciating the new talent Yamal. In 20242025, Dembele played an active role in PSG as it won the first cup in the history of the club in the UEFA Champions League.
PSG made a shocking appearance against Inter Milan 5-0 in the final, a result that was broadly considered as one of the strongest performances at the final of the champions league in the history of the modern world. Dembele was also very impressive individually. In all competitions, the French forward had 35 goals, 21 of which were in Ligue 1, and became the best scorer in the league.
Dembele has been able to achieve a new height of reliability and maturity in the presence of head coach Luis Enrique, silencing his critics who have always believed he was incapable of performing at the apex. The 2025 Men’s Ballon d’Or was another reward to his outstanding season and the first in France to have won the coveted award since Karim Benzema in 2022. Messi was one of the football legends who came out publicly to congratulate Dembele after announcing Ballon d’Or in September.
