France Football magazine will publish this Saturday (9) details of the vote that gave Spanish midfielder Rodri the Ballon d’Or for his performance in the 2023/24 season, but provided some data the day before, including the total score of the top two placed teams. The winner had a 41-point advantage over Brazilian Vinicius Junior: 1,170 to 1,129.
The contested award was defined by the votes of journalists from 99 nationalities – one from each country in the top one hundred places in the FIFA (International Football Federation) ranking, except Syria, which did not vote. Each member of the jury listed ten players, in order of preference, with 15 points for the first, 12 for the second and, subsequently, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.
Nine athletes appeared on at least one list as the best of the year. In addition to the top two, the Englishman Jude Bellingham (5 journalists), the Spanish Dani Carvajal (4), the German Toni Kroos (2), the Frenchman Kylian Mbappé (1), the Norwegian Erling Haaland (1 ), Argentine Lautaro Martínez (1) and Nigerian Ademola Lookman (1).
Winner Rodri did not even appear among the ten in the lists presented by five jurors. Vinicius Junior was excluded from the list of three journalists. There wasn’t much consensus among voters, as none of them sent the top five in the order that had the final score: Rodri, Vinicius Junior, Bellingham, Carvajal and Haaland.
The result was highly contested by Brazil fans, who expected a triumph from Vinicius Junior, and by Real Madrid, who won the last Champions League with the striker as a standout. Aware that the athlete would not take the trophy, the club canceled the flight that would take its delegation to Paris for the ceremony, on the 28th, which led to moments of embarrassment.
There was no one to receive the award for best coach, won by the Italian Carlo Ancelotti, commander of the white team, or to lift the trophy for the best team in men’s football, Real Madrid itself. The absence was part of a fight between the club and UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), France Football’s partner in the awards.
In Brazil, Rodri’s choice, despite his excellent performance at Manchester City, the English champion, and the Spanish team, the European champion, was attributed by many to Vinicius Junior’s fight against racism. The understanding, which is that of the player himself, according to people close to him, is that his activism cost him the cup.
