How PSG's Ballon d'Or duo are pushing each other on

Paris St-Germain won almost all before them last season, so it's no surprise the team's best are up for the 2026 Ballon d'Or.

The French and European champions have 10 players shortlisted for the greatest individual prize in football, which will be awarded at a ceremony in London on 26 October.

While there can only be one winner, team-mates Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are backing each other to collect the prize.

Speaking exclusively to BBC Sport, they have even suggested sharing the award.

"We can cut it in two," joked Dembele, before adding "honestly, he [Kvaratskhelia] deserves it, the season he had was exceptional".

Kvaratskhelia told BBC Sport journalist Julien Laurens: "Of course it's him [Dembele], the season he had last year, he deserves it."

The pair's reaction won't surprise PSG fans, who watched the duo ruthlessly and selflessly link up on countless occasions during their side's Champions League title defence last season.

So, how do they complement each other's game so well, and could the race for this year's Ballon d'Or be a PSG one-two?

PSG made just one signing in January 2025, the last window before their first Champions League title later that year, and it was to bring in Kvaratskhelia for £59m from Napoli.

The then 23-year-old Georgia forward was already a hero in Naples, nicknamed 'Kvaradona' by supporters during Napoli's 2022-23 title-winning campaign.

Full of flare, technically superb and forward-thinking, Kvaratskhelia's play was once compared to George Best by Italian legend Gianfranco Zola - although Kvaratskhelia himself cites Cristiano Ronaldo as his biggest inspiration.

Like his idol, Kvaratskhelia has an impressive work-rate and winning mentality. PSG have won 10 trophies out of a possible 12 since his transfer.

"[He's] electric," team-mate Dembele told BBC Sport.

"Every time he has the ball something can happen. Every time he goes one v one, he provokes the opponent.

"He has shown all his quality. Especially last season where he had a really, really good season.

"Thankfully we didn't let him go to the Premier League."

Kvaratskhelia was named the Champions League's best player of last season, his 10 goals and six assists meaning he averaged a goal contribution in Europe's premier club competition every 72 minutes.

And he did most of his best work towards the business end of the tournament, becoming the first player to score or assist in seven consecutive knockout appearances in a single Champions League campaign.

Kvaratskhelia says his motivation comes from his father, who played for Dinamo Tbilisi and the Azerbaijani national team.

Like his father, Khvicha started his career at Tbilisi before playing for Lokomotiv Moscow and Rubin Kazan in Russia, until Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted a move back home - to Dinamo Batumi, and then on to Napoli.

"I think for the big nations it's really difficult to understand what [winning a Ballon d'Or] would mean for the small country [like Georgia]," Kvaratskhelia told BBC Sport.

"It's something that is very far, it's like impossible, of course I will be the happiest guy because I want to make my family and country proud."

While defenders double up to deal with Kvaratskhelia on the left wing, France forward Dembele is finding even more joy down the right.

The 29-year-old's blistering pace and cool finishing helped him to a combined 31 goals and assists last season which, thanks to a low workload in terms of gametime, worked out to 1.27 goal contributions per 90 minutes.

Only Harry Kane boasted a better rate among players in Europe's top five leagues last term.

The current Ballon d'Or holder, Dembele also scored six goals in 10 appearances for France in 2026 as his side reached the semi-finals of the World Cup.

"He's an amazing player," Kvaratskhelia told BBC Sport.

"The way he leads the team is important, the way his personality and what he gives the team on the pitch is really incredible, and the season he had last year, it was amazing.

"I think we understand each other very, very much. It's easy to understand what he will make and you just have to make some move and he will give you a ball wherever he wants and wherever you are waiting."

Dembele's goal threat by now is well-known and at PSG he has shown the quality that persuaded Barcelona to once pay a £135.5m to sign him from Borussia Dortmund in 2017.

It may not have worked out in Spain but it meant PSG were able to pick up Dembele for a bargain £43.5m in 2023 and, since Kylian Mbappe left for Real Madrid, the Parisians have made Dembele their main star.

"I didn't change," Dembele added. "I played my game, last season and the one before when I won the Ballon d'Or, I stayed the same person.

"When you win it for the first time, you don't want people to say that you were lucky. So you want to continue to be at the top."

If not PSG duo Dembele and Kvaratskhelia, then who?

Well, England captain Harry Kane is actually odds-on to win after a club record 61 goals in 51 games for German double winners Bayern Munich last season. He also scored six times at the World Cup.

Lamine Yamal, who won La Liga with Barcelona and the World Cup with Spain, is second favourite - followed by his club and international team-mate Rodri.

Real Madrid forward Mbappe scored 42 goals in 44 games for his club last season and won the World Cup Golden Boot with 10 goals on his way to becoming the World Cup's all-time record goalscorer.

Meanwhile, Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi, who is looking to win his ninth Ballon d'Or, has also been nominated.

As has Dembele and Kvaratskhelia's team-mate Ferran Torres, who scored Spain's winner in the World Cup final.

The Ballon d'Or is celebrating its 70th anniversary, with the choice of venue - in London - a tribute to the first winner, Englishman Sir Stanley Matthews.

Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid/England)

Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona/Spain)

Marc Cucurella (Real Madrid/Spain)

Ousmane Dembele (Paris St-Germain/France)

Luis Diaz (Bayern Munich/Colombia)

Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United/Portugal)

Gabriel (Arsenal/Brazil)

Erling Haaland (Manchester City/Norway)

Achraf Hakimi (Paris St-Germain/Morocco)

Harry Kane (Bayern Munich/England)