The Spanish newspaper “Marca” promoted the election of the best players in the world for the 2023/2024 season. Unlike the Ballon d’Or, organized by “France Football” magazine and the French newspaper “L’Équipe”, which awarded Rodri first, “Marca” elected Vini Jr as champion.
The vote included the participation of 122 journalists from various countries, former coaches and former players. Jude Bellingham, Vini Jr.’s teammate at Real Madrid came in second place. Rodri, from Manchester City, came third.
Marca stated that the club season was more decisive for the vote than the athletes’ performance in their national teams:
– For the 122 members of the “Marca 100” jury, the ten-month season with Real Madrid had more weight than the final month with the national teams.
The 2023 winner was Norwegian Erling Haaland.
It is worth noting that FIFA has not yet given its award. The result should be released in January.
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The 10 best players in the world by Marca
- Vini Junior, BRA (Real Madrid)
- Jude Bellingham, ING (Real Madrid)
- Rodri, ESP (Manchester City)
- Lamine Yamal, ESP (Barcelona)
- Dani Carvajal, ESP (Real Madrid)
- Erling Haaland, NOR (Manchester City)
- Toni Kroos, ALE (Real Madrid)
- Kylian Mbappé, FRA (Real Madrid)
- Florian Wirtz, ALE (Bayer Leverkusen)
- Harry Kane, ING (Bayern Munich)
The list of the 100 best had three other Brazilians: Savinho (Manchester City – 27th place), Raphinha, (Barcelona – 58th place) and Igor Thiago (Club Brugge – 97th place).
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Ballon d’Or: positions and list of the best player award
- 1º Rodri (Manchester City)
- 2nd Vini Jr (Real Madrid)
- 3º Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
- 4º Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid)
- 5º Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
- 6th Kylian Mbappé (PSG/today at Real Madrid)
- 7th Lautaro Martínez (Inter Milan)
- 8th Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
- 9º Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)
- 10th Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
- 11° Phil Foden (Manchester City)
- 12° Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)
- 13th Dani Olmo (RB Leipzig/now at Barcelona)
- 14° Ademola Lookman (Atalanta)
- 15° Nico Williams (Athletic de Bilbao)
- 16° Granit Xhaka (Bayer Leverkusen)
- 17° Federico Valverde (Real Madrid)
- 18° Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa)
- 19° Martin Odegaard (Arsenal)
- 20th Hakan Chalhanoglu (Inter Milan)
- 21° Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
- 22° Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid)
- 23rd Rúben Dias (Manchester City)
- 24° William Saliba (Arsenal)
- 25° Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
- 26° Declan Rice (Arsenal)
- 27° Vitinha (PSG)
- 28° Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen)
- 29° Mats Hummels (Roma)
- 29th Artem Dovbyk (Girona/today in Rome)
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How does the Ballon d’Or voting work?
Specialized journalists from the 100 countries that occupy the top positions in the FIFA rankings receive a list of 30 names, defined by members of the “L’Équipe” editorial team alongside former Portuguese player Luís Figo, UEFA ambassador.
Each judge selects ten of the 30 players and places them in order of preference. The first place winner for each voter wins 15 points, and the next 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, respectively. The athlete with the highest score from the sum of the votes of the entire jury wins the Ballon d’Or.
The criteria for votes are three: “Individual performances, decisive and impressive character”; “Team Performances and Achievements”; and “Class and fair play.”
In the event of a tie, the person who has been nominated as first place the most times wins the prize.
