Ballon d’Or finalists and their cards
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The Ballon d’Or award will be announced on September 22. For those unaware, the Ballon d’Or is international football’s greatest individual prize. While players can be nominated from across the globe, the list of finalists for the 2025 award comprises mainly players from club football’s top male and female European leagues.
For the men, this year's list was particularly dominated by players from Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain, two clubs that had incredible years while the women's nominees were from a more diverse set of teams. In this article I’ll be discussing the cards and hobby markets of the players favored to win the award.
Ousmane Dembele Forward, Paris Saint Germain
After toiling for the early part of his career in Barcelona, at age 28 Ousmane Dembele had a massive season for Champions League winner Paris Saint Germain (PSG). He was the most impactful player for the best club team in the world last year, pacing PSG with 29 goals and 13 assists across 33 starts and 11 substitution appearances. As a result, he is considered the favorite to take home the Ballon d'Or. From a hobby perspective, Dembele’s market might be undervalued based on his talent and accomplishments. Dembele Topps autos have been selling for as low as $25 depending on the product. It would be fair to expect those prices to rise if Dembele claims the Ballon d’Or as expected.
Lamine Yamal Winger, Barcelona
So much has been written already about the unbelievable exploits of Barcelona sensation Lamine Yamal that I’m not really sure what else there is to say. At age 18, (barely an adult!) Lamine Yamal’s talent was on full display this past season for the top team in Liga 1. For context, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two greatest football stars of this past generation, had not impacted the game the way Yamal has at the same points in their respective careers. Yamal is a lock to win the Kopka trophy given to the best young player. Although he might not be the favorite to win the Ballon d’Or this year it feels like only a matter of time before he claims the prize. As a result of the well earned hype, Yamal’s hobby market could easily be characterized as an extreme sellers market. Ungraded Yamal autos easily sell in the $450-$1,000 range with graded selling for exponentially higher per 130Point sales data. The sky is the limit for Yamal’s talent and chances are his hobby market will mimic that.
Alessia Russo Forward, Arsenal
The competition for the Women’s Ballon d’Or is considered much tighter than men’s as English and Arsenal star (and former North Carolina Tar Heel) Alesia Russo is considered the front runner for the award ahead of last year’s winner Aitana Bonmati. This is due largely to Arsenal’s and the English National team’s success this past season. That’s not to say that Russo isn’t very deserving of the award.
Russo’s scoring often carried Arsenal during the Premier League season. While she didn’t score as much for England’s Eurocup winners, she elevated her teammates and racked up a lot of assists. From a hobby standpoint, Russo has a very respectable hobby market. Specifically, her most recent sales of Topps Merlin autographs went for $230 for an autograph out of 99 and $270 for an orange autograph numbered to 25.
