The Ballon d’Or for the Spanish European football champion Rodri was met with incomprehension by current and former Real Madrid players – because in their opinion the award should have gone to the runner-up Vinícius Júnior. No representative of the Champions League winner traveled to Paris for the award after it was announced that the prestigious trophy would not go to the Brazilian attacker.
Vinícius Júnior himself also made it clear that he did not agree with the result. Spanish newspaper El País quoted a statement from Real saying: “It is obvious that the UEFA Ballon d’Or has no respect for Real Madrid. And Real Madrid is not where it is not respected .”
Midfield strategist Rodri from Manchester City was named the winner of the journalists’ vote, which was organized jointly for the first time by “France Football” and the European Football Union UEFA – ahead of Vinícius Júnior and his two Real team-mates Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal.
Real midfielder Eduardo Camavinga described the election as “football politics” and wrote on X about a photo of himself and Vinícius Júnior: “My brother, you are the best football player in the world and no award can say otherwise.” At the awards ceremony in Paris, the guests in the hall looked in vain for Kylian Mbappé, who was named last season’s top goalscorer along with Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane, and Carlo Ancelotti, who was honored as coach of the year.
The Ballon d’Or has been awarded since 1956. For a long time, the award honored the best player in Europe. From 2010 to 2015, the Ballon d’Or was awarded to the world footballer through a cooperation between the world association FIFA and the French media group Groupe Amaury, to which “France Football” belongs. The collaboration with UEFA has been in place since this year – the umbrella organization no longer has the sole choice of European Footballer of the Year.
