Tiny gap in the lead, 420 points for Mbappé, strange choices… Details of the vote

We knew that the 2024 Ballon d’or did not come down to much. Here is the confirmation. On the newspaper website The Team we can find this Friday the details of the votes for the most prestigious individual award, awarded on October 28 to the Spaniard from Manchester City Rodri. Remember that 100 journalists, representatives of the top 100 countries in the Fifa rankings, are invited to vote for the Golden Ball. They must nominate ten players in descending order of merit. Which players receive 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points respectively. The criteria? Individual performances, decisive and impressive character, collective performances and prize lists and finally class and fair play.

In this little game, it was the brains of the Spanish European champions who hit the jackpot. Which was not to everyone’s taste in Madrid. Real, Golden Ball for the bad loser… Rodri inherited 1170 points, ahead of Madrid’s Vinicius by… 41 units (1129 pts). Unheard of since 2019, when Lionel Messi got the better of Virgil van Dijk. Third, Real England international Jude Bellingham received 917 points. And in fourth place? Another Madrilenian, Dani Carvajal (550 pts), who won the C1 for club and the Euro for selection. A big hit on the list which pleased the clairvoyants.

First Frenchman, Kylian Mbappé (6th) inherited 420 points for his performances… under the colors of PSG, between Erling Haaland (432) and Lautaro Martinez (402). Note that the other Frenchman in the Top 30, William Saliba, received… eight small points. He finished 24th. Five points for the Portuguese from Paris Saint-Germain Vitinha (27th). Note that two players were skipped by the voters in the Top 30, zero points for Artem Dovbik (Girona then Roma) and Mats Hummels (Dortmund then Roma).

The curious choices of Salvador and South Korea

By analyzing the votes of each journalist in more detail, it is also possible to award some prizes. In particular that of the journalist most off the mark, which goes to the representative of El Salvador who places Jude Bellingham (why not), Rodri only 7th and Vinicius Jr. outside his Top 10. South Korea was also not not a fan of the Spanish-Brazilian tandem with Rodri and Vinicius Jr. only 7th and 8th in a ranking dominated by scorers Haaland and Mbappé.

Ademola Lookman celebrated at home

Concerning the French striker, he can be delighted to have a huge supporter in Ivory Coast, the Ivorian journalist having placed him at the top of his ranking. Surprising, but not as much as seeing Ademola Lookman in the lead for Nigeria. A choice that is necessarily 100% chauvinistic. Note that if five journalists did not place Rodri in their Top 10 (Bahrain, Bolivia, Colombia, United Arab Emirates and Panama), there are only three who did the same with Vinicius Jr. (Salvador mentioned above but Finland and Namibia).