Explained: Why Sunderland congratulated Ousmane Dembele on Ballon d'Or success as PSG star's unique connection with Premier League club comes to light

The PSG superstar won the award for the world's best player on Tuesday, beating nearest rival Lamine Yamal to the punch. The winger enjoyed a stunning 2024-25 season with the French giants, as the club finally tasted Champions League glory. In all competitions, he netted a staggering 35 goals and registered 16 assists, and Sunderland took the bizarre step of congratulating a player who has never played for them. 

Dembele has been spotted attending matches at the Stadium of Light previously, doing so in March of 2023 to watch the Black Cats play Sheffield United. The winger is a close friend of Sunderland chairman and minority owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, who is the same age as the PSG star and also owns part of Marseille. 

Sunderland have enjoyed a strong start to the campaign in the Premier League, winning two and drawing two of their first five games since promotion from the Championship. It is unclear if Dembele is still keeping an eye on their results. 

Dembele is in line to feature for PSG for the first time since winning the Ballon d'Or against Auxerre this weekend, before playing his former club Barcelona in the Champions League. Sunderland, meanwhile, play Nottingham Forest this weekend.