Football is a team sport, and no player can shine without teammates who accept the sacrifice of the shadow. Some stand out more than others, and it’s not always about talent or technical prowess.
The first stars in the history of football emerged with the first official competitions. In the absence of images and videos, these stars have become legends, whose names and backgrounds all football fans know without ever having seen them on a pitch. In Morocco, the absolute legend will forever remain Larbi Ben Barek, the incarnation of football in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Pelé will take over, benefiting from the advent of television to make himself known. Endowed with undeniable talent, remarkable intelligence and exemplary behavior, he will succeed in conquering the hearts of all football fans.
Advertising contracts developed stardom, and the media created trophies to reward the best. By creating the Ballon d’Or, the owners of France Football had flair. No other media has been able to supplant them, and even if the paper medium hardly sells anymore, the media survives thanks to the prestige of this trophy.
Like the Oscars or the Césars in the cinematographic field, the Ballon d’Or rewards the best player of the year, a very unrational notion: the prize is awarded by vote according to evolving criteria, modified many times since its creation, with so-called independent voters. In general, these are correspondents of the magazine in around a hundred countries, as is the case in 2024. To avoid fanciful votes, which were numerous in the past, France Football now imposes a list of nominees from which one must draw to choose the winner, a decision among others aimed at reducing controversies. However, there was no shortage of them, which is understandable, because even when a player is unanimous, there will always be protesters.
Pelé dominated the history of football until 1986 and the advent of Maradona. Cruyff, Zico, Platini, Beckenbauer, then Zidane, Ronaldo and Van Basten dominated the world and their era. Only Messi and Cristiano, in a more athletic register in line with the criteria of modern football, have transcended their era thanks to a longevity of 15 years. Regarding the Ballon d’Or, the best do not always win: Pelé and Maradona never won it; in their era, it was reserved for the best European players. Messi, the Argentinian, has won it eight times, the criteria having changed, and Cristiano, five times. They were sufficiently incontestable to facilitate the choice of voters, although this did not prevent certain injustices in the votes. Ribéry, Griezmann, Wesley Sneijder, Lewandowski, Xavi and Iniesta had good reason to dispute the results. Some players were crowned without really making an impression. Who remembers Florian Albert, Cannavaro or Belanov? But an absolute favorite has never really lost… until Vinícius, the unloved of contemporary football. It was Rodri who won the trophy. The Manchester City player had an excellent season, the best of his career; he shone and can be seen as the worthy successor to former Blaugrana Busquets. He distinguished himself during the Euro and was named best player of the competition, except in the final where he only played one half, the least convincing for his national team. Vinícius missed the Copa América but was decisive in the semi-final and final of the Champions League.
Rodri is described by journalists from The Teamparent company of France Footballlike a fair play player. However, he collected ten yellow cards for dangerous play and a direct red card for attempting to strangle an opponent, earning him a three-match suspension. Vinícius, for his part, received seven yellow cards for protest after unsanctioned attacks which put his physical integrity in danger. The voters were probably not briefed on this criterion, since at the same time they awarded the most vulgar player in football, Emiliano Martinez, the Yachine Prize for best goalkeeper of the year.
They also failed to recall that Vinícius was the winner of the Socrates Prize, awarded by France Football to players committed to social causes.
The details of the votes will not be revealed until November 11, but leaks indicate that the young Brazilian was particularly mistreated by journalists from countries less influential in the world of football. It doesn’t matter: the inconsistency of the classification is a challenge. Real Madrid did not feel respected and decided to withdraw from the gala planned for the players. The club had planned a big party in Paris to celebrate Vinícius. It would have been more prudent to wait for the final result. By doing so, the club confused the message and gave a bad image. It would have been wiser to reduce the number of participants in the delegation rather than boycott the event.
Vinícius is a great player who will mark the history of football. He is once again a candidate for the next Ballon d’Or, while Rodri, barring a miracle, is already out of the game. Real Madrid escaped an attempt at humiliation, considering there was an intention to harm the club, but not Vinícius, who will be the target of mockery in every stadium in Spain. The racist cries that he regularly suffered being reprehensible, the slogans of the Ultras of Barça and Atlético, tested last Sunday – “Vinícius Ballon de la plage” – are not, and will be taken up by those of Valencia and others. This remains fair game and a way to destabilize the player, who constantly mobilizes two to three players from the opposing defense.
