Paris Saint-Germain's French forward #10 Ousmane Dembélé receives the Ligue 1 best player award during the 34th UNFP's (France's professional players union) French football awards ceremony in Paris on May 11, 2026. THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
Paris Saint-Germain forward Ousmane Dembélé was on Monday named the Ligue 1 player of the year for the second year running, after leading the club to the brink of a 14th French title and the Champions League final. The 28-year-old becomes just the fifth player to win back-to-back awards, the last being Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2014.
Dembélé last year succeeded Kylian Mbappé, who won the prize five times in a row before departing for Real Madrid.
"It's an individual trophy, but all the individual trophies I've won are thanks to this team," Dembélé said.
The forward retained the honor despite having had an injury-plagued season. He has started just nine matches in Ligue 1, notching up 960 minutes of game time, compared to 20 starts and 1,736 minutes last season. Despite the reduced time on the pitch, Demebélé has scored 10 goals and six assists – still down on the 21 and eight he achieved last year. The award for best young player went to Dembélé's teammate Désiré Doué, while Pierre Sage picked up the honors for best coach after establishing Lens as a direct challenger to PSG.
