Morocco international Achraf Hakimi says being named among the 30 nominees for the 2025 Ballon d’Or is a dream come true, after a season in which he helped Paris Saint-Germain secure a historic treble.
In an interview with French broadcaster Canal+, the Atlas Lions star described the nomination as both an honor and recognition of his standout performances, particularly impressive given his role in defense.
“When my name is mentioned among the nominees, it’s like a dream,” Hakimi said. “If I win it, I believe I deserve it because the season I had was exceptional. It’s rare for a defender to score in the quarterfinal, semifinal and final of the Champions League.”
He added: “Sometimes people think I’m a forward, but I actually play as a defender in a back four. That makes what I achieved even harder. My stats aren’t those of an ordinary defender, and that reinforces my belief that anyone who can do that from the back deserves the award more than others.”
Looking ahead, Hakimi discussed PSG’s ambitions for the new season, especially in the Champions League, where the club will aim to defend its title — something not done since Real Madrid’s run of consecutive wins.
“I don’t see us as the clear favorites just because we’re the reigning champions,” he said. “We’re a strong team and some people will tip us, but the competition will be tougher this season.
Clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City and Liverpool have all strengthened with great players. Still, we’ll stay focused and fight to keep the trophy, just as we did last season.”
Rephrase in a different way as if you were a native American speaker as a content creation expert and do not talk about yourself or your experience in the text and do not show yourself as an artificial intelligence who wrote and fill the bullet point in the topic and speak the heart of the topic itself and dont take date of blog in ther first and dont take text like box of newsliter subscribe on post from content and romove all linke insert in content and and remove all affiliate disclosure phrases on content like this “This post may contain Amazon or other affiliate links that allow us to earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please see our Disclosure Policy for more info” and “#” put in its place bullet point, and romove name of the web site or his links we are take a content from our new creation, and don’t publish clone new content more than just one time
