Johan Cruff once said that the Ballon d’Or is “ a bunch of journalist and people voting his friends”
In every award where success is subjective, there is bound to be some degree of favoritism or corruption. For nearly 70 years, the Ballon d’Or has been the most prestigious soccer award for the best player in the previous year, based on factors like individual performance, team success, and fair play. However, with France Football (the organization who decides on the award) losing credibility due to bias, along with the drama of this year’s award, the significance of the Ballon d’Or may decline.
This is the 68th year of the Ballon d’Or award. The rules for voting have changed over time. From 2007-2015, the Ballon d’Or was decided by vote of national team coaches and captains, along with journalists. Since 2015, the Ballon d’Or awards are now decided only by a panel of 100 journalists from 100 different countries. Among a short list of the 30 nominees first chosen by the editors of France Football, each journalist chooses 10 players from the list and ranks them. The ten selected players are awarded 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 points according to their ranking. These points are then compiled and the award is given to the candidate with the most points. Due to the large amount of attention paid to attacking players in sports journalism, the Ballon d’Or has historically favored forwards; out of the 67 Ballon d’Or awarded, 43 were to forwards, such as Messi and Ronaldo,12 to midfielders,7 wingers, 4 to defenders, and 1 to a goalkeeper. This process allows for countries to influence the vote for candidates, giving an unfair advantage to candidates with journalists from their country on the decision board. Having only 100 voting representatives, compared to the 541 voters in 2013 Ballon d’Or prior to the 2015 rule change, means each vote now holds more weight, and the result to be skewed.
28-year old Rodri was the latest winner of this award. This formally makes him the first player from Manchester City to ever win the award and the third player from Spain. Rodri just narrowly beat out Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr by 41 points, earning 1170 points to Vinicus’s 1129 points. Voting representatives from Finland,Namibia, and El Salvador didn’t even place Vinicius in the top 10 all together while voting representatives from Algeria and South Korea put Vinicius Jr in 8th place, many feeling as though this undervalued his accomplishments.
Students of George School are also not in agreement about the outcome. Out of around the twenty students I asked, only 55% believed that the award was correctly given to Rodri. The other 45% percent all believed that Vinicius should have won.
Rodri, a defensive midfielder for Manchester City, scored 12 goals and contributed 15 assists in the 2023-24 season. These goal contributions are significantly higher than others playing in his position even those playing in some slightly more offensive roles. He also won the UEFA Euros, Premier League, Club World Cup & UEFA Super Cup during the same season.
In terms of club achievement, Vinicius has a more impressive trophy collection. However, national team performance is also important for the Ballon d’Or.
Including winning the player of the tournament for both the Euro’s and Club World Cup, it has been more than a year since Rodri has lost a game. He has set a new record of 74 unbeaten games which he played in. In total he played 63 games last season, in which he only lost one game against Manchester United in the FA Cup. In the 4 games hedidn’t play for Manchester City, City lost all of them. In Manchester City’s last 5 games, in which Rodri was injured, City also lost all of them. On 11/23/24 Rodri presented his Ballon d’Or at his home field, the Etihad stadium of Manchester City, before the game against Tottenham Hotspur. City lost 4-0 to Tottenham which marked the end of City’s 52 game unbeaten home run.
Vinicius Jr plays for Real Madrid as a left winger or center forward. In 2023-24 he scored 26 goals and got 11 assists in only 49 games. Looking at stats alone, Vinicius’s goal contributions are comparatively lower than other members on the Ballon d’Or shortlist. However, he played a large role in critical moments, such as a hat-trick against Barcelona to win Real Madrid the Spanish Super Cup and securing the final goal in the Champions League Final. Vinicius led Madrid to win the Champions League, La Liga, and Super Spanish Cup, but failed to win anything with his country Brazil. During the Copa America, Brazil only managed one win against Paraguay in the group stage. Vinicius scored twice that game, contributing to an overwhelming 4-1 victory and in a relatively inconsequential game. Furthermore, Brazil lost their first game in the quarter finals to Uruguay after Vinicius received a suspension and was unable to play. Without Vinicius or many veteran leaders like Neymar and Casemiro, Brazil lost to Uruguay in penalties. A new manager at Brazil only added to the difficulty.
Arguments were made about both of their importance to their respective teams. I interviewed Prem Dhillon of George School JV soccer. He answered:“Just look at Man City before and after Rodri’s injury”. Haree Kumar said:“Vinicius is Real Madrid’s top winger, creating big chances for the club”.
Throughout the year, odds from multiple news sources, including top sports journalist Fabrizio Romanot, predicted that Vinicius Jr. had the biggest chance of winning the Ballon d’Or. Many already considered Vinicius Jr. to be the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner and the first 21st-century-born player to win the most prestigious award in all of soccer. Marca, the top selling newspaper in Spain, stated on September 23, 2024 that Vinicius Jr. would claim his first Ballon d’Or. This news led the public to shock since the ceremony was still one month away. More sources also reported Vinicius winning the Ballon d’Or, up until hours before the ceremony.
Hours before the formal ceremony, multiple journalists including one of the most credible sources in the world of soccer, Fabrizio Romano, announced that Real Madrid, the 2023-2024 Champions League winners, would not attend the Ballon d’Or ceremony due to Vinicius Jr. not winning, despite Real Madrid winning Club Team of the Year and Real Madrid manager, Antolotti, winning Manager of the Year. Real Madrid stated that they would not go to a ceremony in which they are not respected.
Numerous soccer players have sided with Vinicius, including Rafeal Leao, Richarelson, and RIbery (A former Ballon d’Or runner up). Others argued that neither player deserved this award. The Messi-Ronaldo Era has significantly altered our perception of success leading to 70+ goal contributions per season to be considered necessary for winning this award for more than a decade.
Sources:
https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/vinicius-jr-favourite-win-first-ballon-dor-2024-10-25
https://theanalyst.com/2024/09/rodri-injury-manchester-city-stats-without
https://www.goal.com/en-us/lists/ballon-dor-2024-power-rankings/blt64e16da6b8170bb7
https://www.90min.com/posts/ballon-dor-winners-by-position
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/25727453
https://www.transfermarkt.us/cristiano-ronaldo/profil/spieler/8198
https://www.transfermarkt.us/vergleich/spielervergleich/statistik/def/spieler/8198&28003
https://www.transfermarkt.us/lionel-messi/erfolge/spieler/28003
