Vini Will Not Win Ballon dOr 2024: A possible leak about the Ballon d’Or winner has emerged in the last few hours. It is being reported that Vinicius Jr., along with the rest of the Real Madrid contingent, including club president Florentino Perez, will not travel to Paris to attend the ceremony, leaving Manchester City’s Rodri as the likely winner of the award.
The 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony, like each year, will take place at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France. On Monday, October 28, at 7:45 pm GMT (1:15 am on October 29 in IST) The ceremony features some of the biggest names in the football world. Several awards are given out on this night, including the Gerd Muller Trophy for the highest goal scorer of the year, men’s and women’s club of the year, men’s and women’s best coach of the year, the Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper of the year, and the Kopa Trophy for the best under-21 player of the year.
But the two biggest prizes are the namesakes, the men’s and women’s Ballon d’Or awards for the best player of the season in each gender. Players who win this award rise above the conversations of being good players; they are counted among the greatest to ever play the sport.
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The 2024 award will be given out based on the players’ performances in the 2023-24 season, or between August 1, 2023, and July 31, 2024, to be exact. 30 players have been nominated for the men’s award. While it is understood that most of the players on this list are not among the favourites to win it, even being nominated here makes a player among the best players in the world.
When the list was announced in September 2024, some names immediately emerged as favourites to win the award. These were Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jr. and Manchester City’s Rodri. There are players who will have an outside chance too, like Barcelona’s 17-year-old prodigy Lamine Yamal, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, Real Madrid’s latest big signing Kylian Mbappe, and Arsenal star Bukayo Saka.
In the last month or so, Vini emerged as the favourite to win the award. And it made sense; he won La Liga and the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid, scored 24 and assisted 11 goals in 39 games, and emerged as the biggest star of his team.
Vini Will Not Win Ballon dOr 2024
However, it now seems that the Brazilian superstar will not be winning the award. Football journalist Fabrizio Romano reported hours before the start of the ceremony that Vinicius Jr. and the rest of the Real Madrid contingent would not be travelling to France for the show. This includes his teammates in the top 30 like Jude Bellingham, Dani Carvajal, Antonio Rudiger, Federico Valverde, and also club president Florentino Perez.
So now that Vini, and likely Jude too, are not winning the award, it leaves Man City’s Rodri to become the first Spanish player since Luis Suarez in 1960 to win the Ballon d’Or.
Rodri has been instrumental in Manchester City’s success. A modern-day midfield maestro, the 28-year-old has defensive brilliance like any top defender but also has the vision and the awareness to create moments and chances from deep in the field. While he may not have the numbers Vini does (scoring nine and assisting 14 in 50 games last season), anyone who has watched him play knows he is probably the best midfielder in the world at the moment.
Not only that, but the Manchester City maestro also helped Spain win the 2024 UEFA Euros in dominant fashion, even being named the Player of the Tournament.
On the women’s side, Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati is the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or Féminin for the second year in a row.
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