Florentino Pérez, engaged in an open war with the world Football authorities, accused UEFA of interfering in the process of awarding the last Ballon d’Or.
The president of Real Madrid said at the club’s general assembly on Sunday that “the Ballon d’Or should have gone to a Real Madrid player” and blamed UEFA for its interference in the award process.
“Rodri (the Ballon d’Or winner) is an exceptional player, and he is also a Madridista. It has nothing to do with him. He deserves a Ballon d’Or, but not this one – it should have been awarded for last year when he scored a hat-trick for Manchester City and scored in the Champions League final. This should have gone to a Real Madrid player,” declared the Madrid president, defending his decision to boycott the ceremony.
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“They changed the voting system,” he added.
“Vinicius seemed to have unanimous support, but it could very well have been our captain, Dani Carvajal. Or even Jude Bellingham, finalist at the Euro and having an exceptional season. It’s very difficult to explain,” he assured in front of more than a thousand ‘socios’.
The Spanish businessman, in open conflict with the world football authorities and supporter of the controversial European Super League project, accused UEFA, which joined forces with France Football for the organization of the ceremony for the first time this year, to interfere in the reward process.
“They changed the voting system (from 5 to 10 players), as well as the number of points (from 6 to 15) that each journalist can award to each player. (…) Without the votes of four countries, Namibia, Uganda, Albania and Finland, Vinicius would have won the Ballon d’Or. They didn’t even give him a point,” he lamented.
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On the same subject, “No one deserved it more than him”: Karim Benzema supports Vinicius Jr after the Ballon d’Or was awarded to Rodri.
The influential Madrid president also questioned the significance of L’Équipe and France Football’s partnership with UEFA, asking whether it made “any sense to partner with UEFA while European clubs are fighting fiercely for their freedom and to free themselves from the monopoly of UEFA,” calling for the Ballon d’Or to be an “independent” trophy with more transparent criteria.
