2025 Kopa Trophy Voting Revealed: Who Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Ballon d'Or Winners Chose

Lamine Yamal set a new record while being crowned the best male player aged under 21.

Lamine Yamal became the first two-time winner of the Kopa Trophy. / FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images

The 2025 Ballon d’Or ceremony saw more awards handed out than ever before, although much of the night’s discourse surrounded the triumphs of Ousmane Dembélé and Aitana Bonmatí for the most lucrative prizes.

While Bonmati claimed her third Ballon d’Or Féminin despite others, including Arsenal’s Mariona Caldentey, arguably outperforming her in 2025–26, Dembélé triumphed for the very first time, having never previously been nominated for the award.

The Frenchman played a pivotal role in Paris Saint-Germain’s quadruple-winning campaign, and prevailed by the biggest margin of votes since Karim Benzema in 2022.

2025 Ballon d’Or votes. 2025 Ballon d’Or: Full Votes Breakdown, Points Tally. dark. Next

However, many more were recognised during France Football’s busiest ceremony to date, including the sport’s brightest starlets. The inaugural women’s Kopa Trophy was won by Barcelona’s Vicky López, and there was no doubt as to who would claim the award in the men’s category.

Ballon d’Or runner-up Lamine Yamal became the first player to win the Kopa Trophy twice, after the award was first dished out in 2018. Unlike the most illustrious prize, the Kopa Trophy winner is not voted for by journalists, but by former Ballon d’Or winners, including Lionel Messi.

For the 2025 award, 27 of 31 former winners cast their vote, and here’s an overview of who voted for who.

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Full Breakdown of 2025 Kopa Trophy Votes by Former Ballon d’Or Winners

Lionel Messi was among the majority who voted for Lamine Yamal. / Michael Chisholm/Getty Images

Yamal may not have dominated statistically like Dembélé, Raphinha and Mohamed Salah, but the teenager‘s outstanding level of performance for a superb Barcelona team meant he was close to becoming the first-ever teenager to win the Ballon d’Or.

And while the likes of Désiré Doue and João Neves contributed heavily to PSG’s dominance last term, there was only going to be one winner of the 2025 Kopa Trophy—awarded to the season’s standout U21 performer.

Yamal received a first-place vote from 24 of the 27 former Ballon d’Or winners amid a dominant triumph. Robert Baggio, Ruud Gullit and Pavel Nedvěd were the only exceptions, as they each opted for Doué. Gullit curiously left Yamal out of his top three and explained that he wanted someone else to win the award after the Spaniard’s triumph last year.

There were plenty of Barcelona greats in Yamal’s corner, such as Messi, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Hristo Stoichkov and Ronaldinho, but previous allegiances were irrelevant for the majority, who had no choice but to label the star winger as their No. 1.

Real Madrid legends Zinedine Zidane, Karim Benzema and Luka Modrić also voted for Yamal.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Michel Platini and Kevin Keegan abstained from voting.

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2025 Kopa Trophy Votes Breakdown

Voter	First	Second	Third
Roberto Baggio	Désiré Doué	João Neves	Lamine Yamal
Igor Belanov	Lamine Yamal	João Neves	Estêvão
Karim Benzema	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	João Neves
Oleg Blokhin	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	João Neves
Fabio Cannavaro	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	João Neves
Luís Figo	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	João Neves
Ruud Gullit	Désiré Doué	Dean Huijsen	Pau Cubarsí
Kaká	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	Dean Huijsen
Lothar Matthäus	Lamine Yamal	Estêvão	Kenan Yıldız
Lionel Messi	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	Pau Cubarsí
Luka Modrić	Lamine Yamal	João Neves	Désiré Doué
Pavel Nedvěd	Désiré Doué	Lamine Yamal	Kenan Yıldız
Michael Owen	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	João Neves
Jean-Pierre Papin	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	Rodrigo Mora
Rivaldo	Lamine Yamal	Estêvão	João Neves
Gianni Rivera	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	Kenan Yıldız
Rodri	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	João Neves
Ronaldinho	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	Estêvão
Ronaldo	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	Estêvão
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	Dean Huijsen
Matthias Sammer	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	João Neves
Andriy Shevchenko	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	João Neves
Allan Simonsen	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	Pau Cubarsí
Hristo Stoichkov	Lamine Yamal	Kenan Yıldız	Désiré Doué
Marco van Basten	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	João Neves
George Weah	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	João Neves
Zinedine Zidane	Lamine Yamal	Désiré Doué	João Neves

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READ THE LATEST ON THE BALLON D'OR 2025—NEWS, NOMINEES AND RANKINGS

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