Paris St-Germain shift Ballon d’Or campaign towards Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

Paris St-Germain have changed their approach to the Ballon d’Or campaign, moving from equal promotion of three nominees to focusing primarily on Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

According to L’Equipe, the French club initially decided at the start of the season not to favour any one of Dembele, Kvaratskhelia or Fabian Ruiz. All three were given similar exposure through a series of media appearances and club activities, including interviews with France Football and The Athletic.

The policy was designed to give each player an equal opportunity while avoiding a repeat of last season, when PSG placed greater emphasis on Dembele at the expense of Morocco international Achraf Hakimi.

However, French outlet Foot Mercato reports that the club’s strategy has changed significantly in recent days. PSG are now directing more of their campaign towards Dembele and Kvaratskhelia, while Ruiz was reportedly not informed of the decision in advance and only became aware of the shift through media coverage.

The Spanish midfielder had received considerable attention from the club at the beginning of the month, including an appearance on TF1 and content published on PSG’s social media accounts.

The reported change follows internal discussions about how PSG should respond to repeated comments from former player Kylian Mbappe regarding the Ballon d’Or race.

People close to president Nasser Al-Khelaifi are said to have favoured limiting the campaign to two players to avoid splitting votes. Mbappe’s remarks, meanwhile, have not been overlooked inside the club.

When asked by L’Equipe about the change, PSG declined to provide further details and reiterated its official position of supporting its players.

“We do not see the need to comment further on our strategy or intentions. Having 10 players among the 30 Ballon d’Or nominees is a great source of pride for Paris St-Germain,” a club source said.

“These nominations reflect the success of the group and the work carried out by everyone at the club. As we have explained in recent weeks, we believe a Paris St-Germain player deserves to win the Ballon d’Or.”

PSG have therefore maintained a collective stance publicly, without explaining why Ruiz now has less media exposure than Dembele and Kvaratskhelia.

The development is expected to raise questions within Ruiz’s camp after he was left outside the strategy the club had adopted at the start of its campaign. His response to the change remains to be seen as PSG attempt to manage a sensitive media issue for a second consecutive season.

The club’s calculations had little apparent effect on the team last season. PSG will now hope the debate surrounding their Ballon d’Or campaign does not affect their players’ concentration or the team’s stability on the pitch this season.