After all the controversy aroused by the awarding of the last Ballon d’Or, won by the Spaniard Rodri ahead of the Brazilian Vinícius Jr., whom many saw as the favorite, the votes of each member of the jury (footballers and journalists) were returned public.
One detail attracted attention: only three journalists did not give the Brazilian any points, including the Finn Juha Kanerva, who recently admitted having made a mistake and decided to resign from his post.
The three jurors who did not include Vinícius in their Top 10 are: Bruno Porzio, from El Salvador, Sheefeni Nikodemus, from Namibia, and the Finn Juha Kanerva, mentioned above.
“Technical error”
On social media, Kanerva admitted that he had made a mistake in his choice and therefore decided to leave his position before the 2025 award. “It was a technical error on my part and I take responsibility for it . I will resign from the Ballon d’Or jury,” Kanerva responded to a publication by Madrid Zone on the X network (formerly Twitter), which mentioned the name and nationality of the three jurors who excluded Vinícius Jr. from the competition.
The ten footballers chosen by the Finnish publication Ilta-Sanomat were: Rodri, Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Toni Kroos, Florian Wirtz, Declan Rice, Lamine Yamal, William Saliba, Ademola Lookman and Dani Carvajal.
You should know that the awarding of the Ballon d’Or, the Lev Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper, and the Johan Cruyff Trophy for the best coach are decided by the votes of the 99 male jurors (all countries except Syria voted) and 50 female jurors.
Not fair play
For his part, Salvadoran journalist Bruno Porzio (of El Gráfico TV and Güiri Güiri al Aire) clarified that he had not included Vinícius in the Top 10 for the following reason: “Vinícius clearly did not demonstrate fair play. I didn’t vote for him because, in my opinion, he is a player limited to a small area of the pitch, not to mention what happened with Borussia Dortmund. He is not central to Real Madrid’s game. Yes, it is important, but for me, Bellingham was more decisive this time. »
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