Dembele retains French footballer of the year award

Monday saw Ousmane Dembele, the Paris Saint-Germain forward, being named Ligue 1 player of the year for the second consecutive year, following his crucial role in the club's near-attainment of a 14th French title and their Champions League final berth.

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The 28-year-old has achieved a notable feat, becoming only the fifth player to secure back-to-back awards, with the last being Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2014, and this comes after Dembele succeeded Kylian Mbappe, who won the prize five times in a row before moving to Real Madrid.

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Dembele expressed his gratitude, stating, “It’s an individual trophy but all the individual trophies I’ve won are thanks to this team,” highlighting the team's contribution to his individual success.

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Notably, Dembele retained the honour despite experiencing an injury-plagued season, during which he started just nine Ligue 1 matches and accumulated 960 minutes of gametime, a significant decrease from the 20 starts and 1,736 minutes he had last season.

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Dembele's performance, although reduced, still yielded 10 goals and six assists, albeit lower than the 21 goals and eight assists he achieved last year, demonstrating his enduring impact on the team.

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Paris Saint-Germain essentially secured another Ligue 1 title on Sunday, with their 1-0 win over Brest leaving them six points clear of their closest rivals, Lens, and boasting a superior goal difference with just two games remaining.

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The team, led by Luis Enrique, will be officially crowned French champions for the fifth consecutive season and the 12th time in the last 14 years if they avoid defeat against second-placed Lens on Wednesday.

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Meanwhile, PSG is preparing for the Champions League final against Arsenal later this month, having narrowly edged Bayern 6-5 on aggregate in their semi-final.

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The award for best young player was given to Dembele's teammate, Desire Doue, while Pierre Sage received the honours for best coach, having established Lens as a direct challenger to PSG.