The controversy surrounding the recent Ballon d’Or selection continues nearly two weeks after the award went to Rodrigo Hernández of Spain, eclipsing Brazilian star Vinícius Jr. of Real Madrid, who was the heavy favorite to lift the trophy.
Following detailed results published by France Football, the organization which awards the award, it was revealed that only three journalists among the 99 who voted did not award the Brazilian any points.
One of them, Finnish journalist Juha Kanerva, recently admitted his mistake and announced his resignation from his future voting duties for this prestigious award which recognizes the best player of the season.
On social media, he expressed his clear error of judgment regarding his selection. “It was my technical error. I resign from the Ballon d’Or jury,” Kanerva responded to a Madrid Zone post on the X platform (formerly Twitter), which highlighted nationality, first and last name family of the three jurors who excluded Vinícius Jr. from their lists.
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Additionally, he responded to other mentions made about him online: “It was my technical error, for which I take full responsibility. I am withdrawing as Ballon d’Or coach,” reiterated the journalist.
The ten players chosen by Finnish journalist Ilta-Sanomat included: Rodri, Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Toni Kroos, Florian Wirtz, Declan Rice, Lamine Yamal, William Saliba, Ademola Lookman and Dani Carvajal.
It should be noted that the selection of the Ballon d’Or, the Lev Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper and the Johan Cruyff Trophy for the best coach were determined by the votes of the 99 jurors (only Syria did not vote ) at the male level and 50 at the female level, as reported by El Diario NY.
The other two jurors who left Vinícius out of their Top 10 were Bruno Porzio from El Salvador and Sheefeni Nikodemus from Namibia.
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The Salvadoran journalist clarified that he did not even include the Brazilian in his top 10. “Vinícius certainly did not show any signs of good fair play. I did not vote for him because for me it is a player confined to a limited area of the pitch, without taking into account what happened with Borussia Dortmund,” Porzio explained.
“He is not central to Real Madrid’s gameplay. Yes, he is important, but for me this time, Bellingham was more crucial,” concluded the Central American.
Meanwhile, the African journalist did not reveal why he excluded the Brazilian from his top 10.
