DEMBELE PIPS YAMAL

France forward clinches the World Soccer Men's Player of the Year award in a clean sweep for Paris Saint-Germain

-  Jamie Evans

In the 43-year history of the World Soccer awards, rarely has a race between two players been so close.

In 1983, Michel Platini lost out to Zico by just 4% of the vote, while Dennis Bergkamp was pipped by Marco van Basten by a similar percentage in 1992. Roberto Baggio was just 3.91% behind compatriot Paolo Maldini in 1994, while there was very little between Ronaldo, Alan Shearer and George Weah in 1996. The tightest call ever was in 2010, when Xavi pipped his Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi by just 1.7% of the vote, and Messi was on the other side of a close call in 2019 when edging out Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk.

But this year's contest between Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembele was won by the very barest of margins.