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Ousmane Dembele capped his extraordinary transformation from immature, unprofessional wasted potential to the world's best footballer on Monday night.
As the tears flowed on stage, his mother Fatimata by his side, the Ballon d'Or winner will have reflected on how he went from maligned £115million Barcelona disappointment to reaching the very top.
And no doubt he would have acknowledged his seldom-seen wife Rima Edbouche. A former social media star in the Muslim world, the 26-year-old is credited with helping him realise his vast potential by making the infamously childish star grow up.
Troubled with injuries, poor form, ill-discipline on the pitch, an obsession with online gaming and poor time keeping, Dembele's career threatened to be a colossal waste of a generational talent - with a racism scandal marking the nadir of his time at Barcelona.
But four years on and after his marriage to Rima she updated her Instagram with a picture of Dembele with his Ballon d'Or trophy on her stories, simply writing: 'Proud'.
Born in Morocco, Rima once boasted 300K followers on TikTok where she promoted her lifestyle brand Razalae and was famed for her modest fashion and lifestyle advice in keeping with her Islamic faith. Her strong belief, tradition and work ethic has rubbed off significantly on her other half, who is also a practicing Muslim.
Ousmane Dembele is pictured with his wife Rima Edbouche and their young daughter after the Frenchman helped PSG to the Champions League last season
Dembele credited his mother Fatimata (right) with helping him through tough times after winning the Ballon d'Or on Monday night
Rima built up a following of around 300k with cultural and sophisticated content such as the above before abruptly deleting her TikTok account, she posted a one-word message on her Instagram story, writing: 'Proud', after Dembele's triumph
Indeed, she famously never showed her face in accordance with her religious background and the couple have chosen not to make public the name of their daughter, with Dembele instead calling her 'The Catalan' because she was born in Barcelona during his time at the club.
However, in recent months following PSG's defeat at the hands of Chelsea in the World Club Cup Championship she made her TikTok private and then decided to delete it completely. She has not commented why.
She also deleted everything from her Instagram before relaunching it with 187K followers, carefully curating the feed to show her lavish lifestyle and pictures from places like Courchevel and Dubai, while keeping her family life absent from the profile.
The deliberately choreographed shots of everything but her loved ones - added to short descriptive captions - adds to the air of mystery.
Rima's quiet diligence and commitment to family and faith has been transformative for Dembele, who is a changed man now - able to use her rock solid support behind the scenes as the foundation for his world-beating performances for PSG and France.
The pair married in 2021 in a classy but understated traditional Moroccan ceremony in France, footage of which was leaked on social media with rare images of Rima's face, though it is not known whether permission for this rare exposure was granted by the happy couple.
Many of Dembele's Barcelona team-mates did not even know he'd tied the knot and there was only a very tight circle of friends and family at the celebration.
The following year, the couple welcomed their daughter and Dembele knuckled down as a dedicated father and husband with a newfound maturity that was also reflected on the pitch with PSG.
Footage of him sprinting to close down defenders went viral last season, with fans in disbelief that the once laconic and occasionally disinterested style had been replaced by a terrier-like intensity and work ethic.
Fatherhood and the weight of responsibility it brings appears to have woken up Dembele to shifting his attitude to a more serious one about his profession.
After marrying Rima, Dembele even hired his own live-in nutritionist and made the effort to fly back to France for specialist treatments to prevent injuries plaguing him.
Dembele referred to his daughter as 'The Catalan' and chose to keep her name private
Rima still has a presence on Instagram but is no longer on TikTok as before
Those final seasons in Barcelona were the beginning of an upturn that reached a crescendo last season with PSG.
Despite the degree of mystery surrounding Rima herself, what is known about her is the profound impact she has had on her husband and his career.
At Barcelona, Dembele showed flashes of the electric, two-footed superstar who announced himself at Dortmund, but he also infuriated fans with what was seen as a lack of professionalism.
He spent an astonishing 784 days on the sideline during his six seasons in Spain. There were 14 muscle injuries but it was clear that the pattern was not simply misfortune.
Dembele would stay up gaming into the early hours with friends, did not take his nutrition or recovery seriously and was regularly fined by the club for his lack of punctuality.
One of Dembele's lowest and most embarrassing episodes was in 2021 when videos emerged of him and Antoine Griezmann, supposedly shot during a pre-season tour in 2019, appearing to mock Asian technicians trying to help them set up a video game.
Dembele is alleged to say of the three men: 'All these ugly faces, just so you can play PES, aren't you ashamed? What kind of backward language is that? Are you technologically advanced in your country or not?'
Dembele has come a long way from the talented but immature youngster he once was - pictured here in 2016 as a 19-year-old
Rima is regularly in attendance at games but rarely shows her face, in accordance with her strict Muslim faith
The World Cup winner later posted on Twitter: 'I have always been committed against any form of discrimination.
'For the past few days, some people have wanted to pass me off as the man I am not. I firmly refute the accusations made against me and I am sorry if I offended my Japanese friends.'
That lack of maturity seems a distant memory now Dembele is one of the more senior and experienced players in the dressing room with a far more settled and balanced life in the French capital.
Of course, Dembele's parents have also been vital in his rise.
His Mauritanian-Senegalese mother and a Malian father took the decision to move to France in search of a better life. Ousmane Sr was described by BBN as 'working tirelessly' to support the family.
Football was already in the blood. Dembele's father, Ousmane Snr, was an amateur player and his uncle, Badou Sambagué, played professionally.
It was those contacts with his uncle that led the family to make a serious early sacrifice.
Having moved to France from west Africa and set up a new life in Normandy, Dembele was born in the small town of Vernon in 1997.
They then moved to Rennes so their son, the eldest of three, could play for junior side Madeleine Évreux.
Dembele was beset with injuries while at Barcelona and accused of a lack of professionalism
Dembele was only six at the time but seeing his already apparent talent for the sport, Fatimata backed him.
His uncle helped represent the youngster but it was Fatimata who acted as both mother and manager. She was his representative for the signing of his first professional contract at Rennes before being at the heart of his £12m move to Dortmund aged 19.
She developed a reputation as a shrewd operator and is the assertive one in the family.
Dembele's father is known to be more reserved and shuns the limelight. Fatimata, meanwhile, took pride of place next to her son with the eyes of the world on them at the lavish Ballon d'Or ceremony on Monday.
'Well, the Ballon d'Or is really something else (she’s at a loss for words),' she reflected to La Parisien.
'Even in his youth, we talked about Barcelona, his dreams, but the Ballon d'Or, we never thought we'd get there! To imagine your son as the best player in the world, honestly… Yet, I guarantee you, I'm not surprised.'
Fatimata was there for her son's crowning moment as the best player in world football
Dembele himself, while breaking down in tears, said: 'She has been there for me through difficult times.'
Without his mother's unwavering belief, especially during the early years of family upheaval - combined with with Ousmane Snr battling to make ends meet in a new country, there's no doubt Dembele's crowning achievement would have been impossible without his parents' contributions.
During those early years of toil and striving to reach the professional level, followed by turbulent times in Spain - the Ballon d'Or will have seemed a distant dream for Dembele.
But it was Rima and his parents who helped transform it into reality.
