LaLiga president Javier Tebas has stirred conversation after suggesting that Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal missed out on the 2025 Ballon d’Or because of his age.
Yamal, just 18 years old, finished as runner-up to Ousmane Dembélé of Paris Saint-Germain, who claimed the prestigious award after helping his club lift the Champions League trophy.
Despite the snub, Yamal did not leave empty-handed. He took home the Kopa Trophy for Best Young Player, winning it for the second year in a row.
Tebas expressed confidence that the player’s time will come:
“If he had been older than 23, he would have won it, too, I’m sure. But since he was younger, they gave him the other one [Kopa Trophy].”
Barcelona president Joan Laporta, however, credited Dembélé’s Champions League triumph with PSG as the deciding factor in his Ballon d’Or win.
