Winner of Euro 2024 with Spain, Manchester City midfielder Rodri beat Real Madrid’s Brazilian Vinicius Jr who won the Champions League. A scandalous ranking according to Real, which boycotted the trophy ceremony, triggering controversy over this 68th edition dominated by the Spaniards. Because, among the girls, there was no debate: Aitana Bonmati kept her trophy. And Lamine Yamal was crowned best young person.
4 mins
This 2024 Ballon d’Or will inevitably go down in history. And not just because, for the first time since 2004, neither Messi nor Ronaldo were on the list of nominees. Or because the winner has come to take his trophy with his crutches. This will be mainly because of the controversy sparked by the biggest club on the planet, Real Madrid, who felt that the prestigious trophy should go to one of its protégés, Vinicius, Bellingham or Carvajal.
But the jury of journalists, representing the top 100 nations in the Fifa rankings, chose to crown Rodri and it is anything but a scandal as the Spanish midfielder, conductor of his club Manchester City and its selection, had everything to finish on the top step of the podium. He succeeds Lionel Messi and thus becomes the third Spaniard, after Alfredo Di Stéfano (1957, 1959) and Luis Suàrez (1960), to win the Ballon d’Or, succeeding where tenors like Xavi and Iniesta, even Raul, failed.
Real Madrid places two players on the podium
Winner of Euro 2024, a year after the Nations League, Rodri also won the English championship and the Club World Cup, Manchester City. Best player of the Euro, Rodrigo Hernández Cascante, his full name, is the prototype of the modern footballer. Last May, he was even considered the most “impactful” player in European football by the International Center for the Study of Sport (CIES). The criteria: defense on the ground, distribution of the game, percussion, frequency of decisive or key passes, finishing and aerial play. In short, THE perfect player. He will have failed this season in the Champions League in the quarter-finals against Real Madrid of… Vinicius, which will still have the gift of fueling the regrets of his dolphin.
“ For his entire season, I would have voted for Vinicius », Confided former French striker Djibril Cissé. He is not the only one in this case, because the Brazilian left his mark on the last season with this Champions League gleaned after the Spanish championship. Not to mention his 26 goals and 11 assists, often served with suave technique.
Real nevertheless places a second player on the podium with midfielder Jude Bellingham, finalist for Euro 2024. But not sure that this is enough to settle the controversy…
One certainty: among women, the coronation of Aitana Bonmati is not contested. The one that is considered “ like the female version of Iniesta » by Pep Guardiola achieved the double a year after winning his first Ballon d’Or. She matches the performance of her Barça teammate Alexia Putellas, winner in 2021 and 2022. At 26, she is ahead of two of her Barça teammates, the Norwegian Caroline Graham Hansen, and the Spaniard Salma Paraluello.
This is the fourth time in a row that Barça has been at the top of the podium for the Women’s Ballon d’Or, which illustrates the control of the Catalan club and the Spanish selection over world women’s football.
Spain will have marked this 68th edition of the Ballon d’Or with also the coronation of Lamine Yamal who won the Kopa Trophy which rewards the best young person under the age of 21. At 17, the FC Barcelona striker was one of the great architects of Spain’s coronation at the Euro, finishing 8th in the general Ballon d’Or rankings.
The 2024 list
Men’s Ballon d’Or: Rodri (Spain, Manchester City)
Women’s Golden Ball: Aitana Bonmati (Spain, FC Barcelona)
Kopa Trophy (best youngster): Lamine Yamal (Spain, FC Barcelona)
Gerd Müller Trophy (top scorer): Harry Kane (England, Bayern Munich) and Kylian Mbappé (France, Real Madrid).
Lev Yachine Trophy (best goalkeeper): Emiliano Martinez (Argentina, Aston Villa)
Club of the year: Real Madrid (H); FC Barcelona (F)
Men’s coach: Carlo Ancelotti (Italy, Real Madrid)
Women’s coach: Emma Hayes (United States, Chelsea)
Sócrates Prize: Jennifer Hermoso (Spain, Tigres UANL)