The 2024 Ballon d’Or was awarded to Rodri, but this Monday, November 11, the Spanish player shared how he would have voted if he had been among the voters.
In a statement that went viral, he said: “I would vote for [Dani] Carvajal in second position, and Vinicius in third…”
This comment reignited discussions around the final ranking and the decisions of certain voters.
Indeed, the Ballon d’Or award process is based on the votes of 100 journalists from the highest ranked countries in the FIFA rankings.
Each journalist designates ten players, to whom they award points according to a scale: 15 points for the first, 12 for the second, and so on.
In this context, several journalists did not award points to Vinicius, which directly influenced his ranking.
Juha Kanerva, a Finnish journalist, notably left Vinicius Junior out of his list, subsequently explaining: “This is a technical error on my part, for which I take responsibility. »
In addition to Kanerva, two other journalists — Bruno Porzio of El Salvador and Sheefeni Nikodemus of Namibia — also gave Vinicius no points.
These controversial choices fueled speculation. If Vinicius had been ranked second or third in these votes, he could have accumulated enough points to take first place ahead of Rodri.
For Real Madrid supporters, this situation leaves a bitter taste. It reinforces the idea that Vinicius was disadvantaged because of the color of his skin.
The votes and possible technical omissions remind us how much the Ballon d’Or verdict is based on sometimes subjective choices.
