India, Sept. 23 -- Real Madrid's absence from the 2025 Ballon d'Or ceremony on Monday evening marked the second consecutive year the Spanish giants have boycotted football's most prestigious gala. PSG's Ousmane Dembele claimed the men's award pipping Barcelona's Lamine Yamal and his clubmate Vitinha.

One of the major noticeable takeaways from the podium was that no Real Madrid player made it to the top three. This has sparked rumours whether the European giants passed the ceremony due to the same.

The roots of Real Madrid's boycott trace back to October last year, when the club made the controversial decision to withdraw from the ceremony after learning Vinicius Junior would not win the men's Ballon d'Or award for the season, which inst...