Ousmane Dembele’s Ballon d’Or win on Monday was an emotional second for the participant and his household, the award appearing as a supply of satisfaction for them in additional methods than one. Dembele received soccer’s most prestigious particular person prize as a reward for enjoying a starring function in Paris Saint-Germain’s historic treble-winning season, capped off by their first-ever UEFA Champions League title. The 28-year-old scored 35 targets throughout all competitions final season, a career-best outing for a participant who counts the World Cup amongst his accolades however has spent a lot of his profession as a supporting participant on his groups, be it the France nationwide staff or throughout a earlier stint at Barcelona.
The Ballon d’Or triumph is a crowning achievement for Dembele and his household, who he thanked throughout his speech on Monday, who he stated “supported me within the tough moments.” Dembele was born and raised in France to immigrants from Africa – his father is from Mali and his mom Fatima is Mauritanian-Senegalese, from the Mauritanian village of Waly Diantang. Fatima acknowledged her son’s African heritage in a video shared on social media, saying the household plans to take the Ballon d’Or to totally different elements of the continent to have a good time.
“We’ll convey it in every single place,” she stated. “We’ll convey it in every single place — Waly [Diantang, Mauritania], Senegal. That is the Ballon d’Or of all of Africa.”
The PSG ahead just isn’t the primary participant with African roots to win the award, although solely a handful have performed so lately. Former France internationals Karim Benzema and Zinedine Zidane, who received the Ballon d’Or in 2022 and 1999, respectively, are of Algerian descent, whereas Liberia’s George Weah remains to be the one African participant to win the award after doing so in 1995.
Dembele’s shut relationship together with his mom was apparent as he accepted the Ballon d’Or, the participant changing into visibly emotional as he spoke about her. Host Kate Scott then invited Fatima onto the stage to hitch her son on the finish of his speech and stated in a post-match interview with CBS Sports activities’ Guillem Balague that he needed to pay tribute to not simply his mom, however others, too.
“Sure, I paid homage to her and all of the mothers,” Dembele stated. “It is tough to be a mom, so it is regular that I do that.”
