Rio Ferdinand names ONLY PLAYER currently on the podium for 2025 Ballon d'Or

For Rio Ferdinand, the 2025 Ballon d'Or is currently a race in which only one man is running.

Manchester City star Rodri took the crown in controversial fashion in 2024, when Ferdinand had made clear that Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr was his choice. Los Blancos of course boycotted the awards gala after discovering the Brazil star was only coming in second.

Vini Jr is set to be in the running for this year's prize once more. His new Real Madrid team-mate Kylian Mbappe will likely be in the mix too, having found his feet at the Bernabeu following his move from PSG while last year's theoretical bronze medallist, Jude Bellingham will also hope to be in the mix once again.

Barcelona's Lamine Yamal has a growing reputation and could lay a claim to it, while Raphinha is in the form of his life, arguably the best player in La Liga so far this season.

But right now, the bookies' favourite is Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, enjoying a monstrous season with the Premier League leaders. At 32, he's perhaps better than ever, scoring 30 times already, adding another 22 assists in all competitions and just being brilliantly decisive week in, week out.

And for Ferdinand, he's well out in front in the race for the individual crown that Liverpool's Egyptian king craves.

"Right now at this moment in time, I don't think there's anyone else on the podium with him," believes Ferdinand, speaking ahead of Liverpool's clash with PSG.

But the ex-Manchester United and England star knows that while Salah may well be the frontrunner right now, things can change very, very quickly - particularly when the big players begin stepping up in Europe's premier club competition.

"I think with the way the Champions League works, as you get through the knockout stages and someone starts coming to the fore, they end up there.

"It comes down to moments in big games, really. You can throw Salah in there, you can throw [Ousmane] Dembele in there if PSG go far. [Kylian] Mbappe will be there, [as will] Vinicius [Junior] and [Jude] Bellingham.

"Whoever keeps their status and turns up in the semi-final and final will win it. If they [ Liverpool ] win the Champions League, I'm sure he [Salah] will play a big part."