Ballon d’Or, a technical error during the vote!

It was to everyone's surprise (and to the great anger of Real Madrid) that Vinicius was narrowly beaten by Rodri for the 2024 Ballon d'Or. The Brazilian winger can blame the three journalists on the jury for France Football who did not mention him in their top 10. The representative of El Salvador caused a scandal the evening of the ceremony in Paris, with Bruno Porzio however justifying the absence of the Brazilian winger by his behavior on the pitch.

The Finnish journalist was the only European juror not to mention “Vini”. Upon publication of the details of votes from France FootballJuha Kanerva was then the target of many Merengues supporters. Faced with such a flood of comments on X, the journalist gave an absolutely lunar reason. “It was a technical fault on my part, for which I take responsibility. I am leaving my place as a Ballon d’Or juror »he wrote in Finnish then in English on the social network.

Declan Rice ahead of Vinicius for the Ballon d'Or

Juha Kanerva thus seems to have forgotten to mention Vinicius when putting together his list of 10 players. The Finn placed Rodri ahead of Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham and then gave points to Toni Kroos, Florian Wirtz, Declan Rice, Lamine Yamal, William Saliba, Ademola Lookman and Dani Carvajal. Ranking Rice and Saliba in 6th and 8th positions is surprising (unless you are dealing with an Arsenal supporter).

The third juror who did not mention Vinicius in his top 10 is Namibian journalist Sheefeni Nikodemus. His choice fell on Bellingham ahead of Rodri and Lamine Yamal, with Granit Xhaka 5th. In any case, the three journalists who forgot Vinicius, winner of the Champions League and elected best player, absolutely did not respect the ballot organized by France Footballindividual performances being the first criterion in front of the collective space.