West African roots

Celebrity Buzz Malian father, Mauritanian-Senegalese mother, Ballon d’Or winner: Ousmane Dembélé Ousmane Dembélé, born in Vernon, France, in 1997 to a Malian father and a Mauritanian-Senegalese mother, moved from Rennes to Dortmund and then to Barcelona for an initial €105 million. After an up-and-down spell in Spain, he joined Paris Saint-Germain in 2023 and won the 2025 Ballon d'Or.