"To be rewarded with an individual trophy like the Ballon d'Or is truly exceptional."

He added that his boss Luis Enrique — who won the award for club coach of the year — had been "like a father" to him.

"It is an individual trophy, but it was really the collective that won it," insisted Dembele, who was one of nine members of the triumphant PSG team from last season to be nominated for the prize.

"The Ballon d'Or has not really been an objective for me in my career, but I worked hard for the team to win the Champions League."

Earlier in the evening, the 18-year-old Yamal, who was a teammate of Dembele at Barcelona when he first broke through in 2023, won the Kopa Trophy for the best player aged under 21 — the second year running he has taken that award.

"I need to keep on working to win other awards in the future," he said through a translator.

Dembele was at the ceremony to pick up his prize while his PSG teammates were losing 1-0 in a Ligue 1 game in Marseille at the same time — that match had been scheduled for Sunday, but was put back 24 hours due to bad weather in the south of France.