{"id":175766,"date":"2025-08-23T21:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T20:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/dembeles-teammate-backs-yamal-for-ballon-dor-2025"},"modified":"2025-08-23T22:20:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T21:20:12","slug":"dembeles-teammate-backs-yamal-for-ballon-dor-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/dembeles-teammate-backs-yamal-for-ballon-dor-2025","title":{"rendered":"Dembele’s Teammate Backs Yamal for Ballon d’Or 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Ousmane Dembele\u2019s France international team-mate, Jules Kounde, has backed his Barcelona team-mate Lamine Yamal to win the 2025 Ballon d\u2019Or.<\/p>\n

Kounde said that Yamal, who is expected to compete with Dembele, deserves the Ballon d\u2019Or.<\/p>\n

Both Yamal and Dembele are among the 30 nominees shortlisted for the Ballon d\u2019Or.<\/p>\n

\u201cLamine Yamal for the Ballon d\u2019Or? You\u2019re putting me in a tricky situation, but I think he deserves it,\u201d Kounde said (via Le10Sport).<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a very good relationship with him. He is a team player, he works a lot for the team. I understand him perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yamal, 18, recorded 18 goals for the LaLiga champions last term and produced brilliant display during the UEFA Champions League.<\/p>\n

The Spain international was promoted to Barcelona\u2019s first-team by former manager Xavi.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. Ousmane Dembele\u2019s France international team-mate, Jules Kounde, has backed his Barcelona team-mate Lamine Yamal to win the 2025 Ballon d\u2019Or. Kounde said that Yamal, who is expected to compete with Dembele, deserves the Ballon d\u2019Or. Both Yamal and Dembele are among the 30 nominees shortlisted for the Ballon d\u2019Or. \u201cLamine Yamal for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":175765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[15718,2379,1917,254,18526],"class_list":["post-175766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-ballon-dor-2025","tag-dembele","tag-france","tag-nigeria","tag-yamal"],"yoast_head":"\nDembele's Teammate Backs Yamal for Ballon d'Or 2025 - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ousmane Dembele\u2019s France international team-mate, Jules Kounde, has backed his Barcelona team-mate Lamine Yamal to win t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/dembeles-teammate-backs-yamal-for-ballon-dor-2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dembele's Teammate Backs Yamal for Ballon d'Or 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ousmane Dembele\u2019s France international team-mate, Jules Kounde, has backed his Barcelona team-mate Lamine Yamal to win t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/dembeles-teammate-backs-yamal-for-ballon-dor-2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-23T20:02:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-23T21:20:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1755971556.553788.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/dembeles-teammate-backs-yamal-for-ballon-dor-2025#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/dembeles-teammate-backs-yamal-for-ballon-dor-2025\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Dembele’s Teammate Backs Yamal for Ballon d’Or 2025\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-23T20:02:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-23T21:20:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/dembeles-teammate-backs-yamal-for-ballon-dor-2025\"},\"wordCount\":153,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/dembeles-teammate-backs-yamal-for-ballon-dor-2025#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1755971556.553788.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ballon d'Or 2025\",\"Dembele\",\"France\",\"Nigeria\",\"Yamal\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/dembeles-teammate-backs-yamal-for-ballon-dor-2025#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/dembeles-teammate-backs-yamal-for-ballon-dor-2025\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/dembeles-teammate-backs-yamal-for-ballon-dor-2025\",\"name\":\"Dembele's Teammate Backs Yamal for Ballon d'Or 2025 - 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