PSG's Dembélé wins the Ballon d'Or and Barcelona's Bonmati achieves award hat trick

PARIS (AP) — Ousmane Dembélé won the Ballon d’Or for leading Paris Saint-Germain to its first Champions League title and Aitana Bonmatí received the women’s award for a third successive year on Monday.

Dembélé succeeded Manchester City midfielder Rodri to become the sixth Frenchman to win it after Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini, Jean-Pierre Papin, Zinedine Zidane and Karim Benzema.

Bonmatí won ahead of her Spain teammate Mariona Caldentey. She's only the third player in the award's history to win three in a row after Platini (1983–85) and Lionel Messi (2009-12).

The award capped a remarkable turn of fortune for Dembélé, who at one point last season was snubbed by PSG coach Luis Enrique for disciplinary reasons. But once repositioned as a No. 9, he became a scoring machine and was inspirational in PSG's historic Champions League campaign. The French club also completed a quadruple last season.

Dembélé was praised after the Champions League final for the way he contributed to PSG's pressing and his ability to defend during the 5-0 rout of Inter Milan. He delivered 35 goals and 16 assists in 53 official matches last season, and was involved in 14 goals (8 goals, 6 assists) in the Champions League in 15 appearances.

Dembélé received the Ballon d'Or from former winner Ronaldinho and teared up during his acceptance speech in which he asked his mother to join him on the stage.

“It’s incredible to win a trophy like this,” he said in French. “I worked for the team to help win PSG’s first Champions League (...) To then be rewarded with an individual trophy like the Ballon d’Or is truly exceptional.”

Dembélé won ahead of teenage star Lamine Yamal. The forward, who turned 18 in July, helped Barcelona win La Liga and the Copa del Rey last season and reach the Champions League semifinals. Yamal was given the Kopa award for the best under-21 player for the second straight year.

“I need to keep on working to win other awards in the future,” Yamal said through a translator.

Dembélé was injured and able to attend the ceremony in Paris while his team lost at Marseille 1-0 in the French league. He was one of nine PSG players nominated for the men’s award, including goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, forward Désiré Doué, who scored twice in the Champions League final, and winger Khvitcha Kvaratskhelia.

Although Bonmati lost to England in a penalty shootout in the Women's European Championship final last summer, she was named the best player of the tournament, which she began just days after being hospitalized by viral meningitis.

Bonmatí’s spot kick in the shootout was one of two saved by England's Hannah Hampton, who was voted the best women's goalkeeper.

“Third time in a row here and I still can’t believe it,” Bonmatí said “I owe Barcelona everything, this is the club of my life.”

She won a domestic treble with Barcelona and also reached the Champions League final.

Barcelona has won the last five women's awards but it was expected an Englishwoman would win for the first time. England won the Euros and Arsenal took the Women's Champions League. But with five England players among the women's top 10 nominees, the highest placed was Alessia Russo at third.

Barcelona forward Vicky Lopez won the women’s Kopa trophy and Sarina Wiegman, who led England to European victory, took the Johan Cruyff award for best women’s coach. On a great night for PSG, Luis Enrique won in the men’s category.

PSG was voted the best men’s club and Donnarumma received the Lev Yashin award for best goalkeeper. Donnarumma, whose shot-stopping in the knockout stages proved crucial to PSG’s success, left for Manchester City during the offseason. Hampton was crowned the best women’s goalkeeper.

The men’s and women’s Gerd Müller trophies for the top scorers went to Barcelona’s Ewa Pajor and Viktor Gyokeres, who joined Arsenal this summer from Sporting Portugal after a prolific season.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Barcelona's Aitana Bonmatí receives the 2025 Women's Ballon d'Or during the 69th Ballon d'Or awards ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembélé reacts as he receives the 2025 Men's Ballon d'Or during the 69th Ballon d'Or awards ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembélé receives the 2025 Men's Ballon d'Or during the 69th Ballon d'Or awards ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Barcelona's Aitana Bonmatí receives the 2025 Women's Ballon d'Or during the 69th Ballon d'Or awards ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

FILE - England's Chloe Kelly celebrates after scoring the winning penalty of the Women's Euro 2025 final soccer match between England and Spain at St. Jakob-Park in Basel, Switzerland, on July 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

FILE - PSG's Ousmane Dembele during the League One soccer match Paris Saint-Germain against Angers at the Parc des Princes stadium, on Aug. 22, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, File)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — President Donald Trump suggested Friday that he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the U.S. controlling Greenland, a message that came as a bipartisan Congressional delegation sought to lower tensions in the Danish capital.

Trump for months has insisted that the U.S. should control Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in U.S. hands would be “unacceptable.”

During an unrelated event at the White House about rural health care, he recounted Friday how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

“I may do that for Greenland too,” Trump said. “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that,” he said.

He had not previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue.

Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington this week with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

That encounter didn’t resolve the deep differences, but did produce an agreement to set up a working group — on whose purpose Denmark and the White House then offered sharply diverging public views.

European leaders have insisted that is only for Denmark and Greenland to decide on matters concerning the territory, and Denmark said this week that it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with allies.

In Copenhagen, a group of senators and members of the House of Representatives met Friday with Danish and Greenlandic lawmakers, and with leaders including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Delegation leader Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, thanked the group’s hosts for “225 years of being a good and trusted ally and partner” and said that “we had a strong and robust dialog about how we extend that into the future.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said after meeting lawmakers that the visit reflected a strong relationship over decades and “it is one that we need to nurture.” She told reporters that “Greenland needs to be viewed as our ally, not as an asset, and I think that’s what you’re hearing with this delegation.”

The tone contrasted with that emanating from the White House. Trump has sought to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals. The White House hasn’t ruled out taking the territory by force.

“We have heard so many lies, to be honest and so much exaggeration on the threats towards Greenland,” said Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic politician and member of the Danish parliament who took part in Friday’s meetings. “And mostly, I would say the threats that we’re seeing right now is from the U.S. side.”

Murkowski emphasized the role of Congress in spending and in conveying messages from constituents.

“I think it is important to underscore that when you ask the American people whether or not they think it is a good idea for the United States to acquire Greenland, the vast majority, some 75%, will say, we do not think that that is a good idea,” she said.

Along with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, Murkowski has introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the use of U.S. Defense or State department funds to annex or take control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of any NATO member state without that ally’s consent or authorization from the North Atlantic Council.

The dispute is looming large in the lives of Greenlanders. Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said on Tuesday that “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.””

The chair of the Nuuk, Greenland-based Inuit Circumpolar Council, which represents around 180,000 Inuit from Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia’s Chukotka region on international issues, said persistent statements from the White House that the U.S. must own Greenland offer “a clear picture of how the US administration views the people of Greenland, how the U.S. administration views Indigenous peoples, and peoples that are few in numbers.”

Sara Olsvig told The Associated Press in Nuuk that the issue is “how one of the biggest powers in the world views other peoples that are less powerful than them. And that really is concerning.”

Indigenous Inuit in Greenland do not want to be colonized again, she said.

Superville reported from Washington. Emma Burrows in Nuuk, Greenland and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to promote investment in rural health care in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)