Events leading up to and during the 2024 Ballon d’Or awards ceremony have created a lot of controversy.

Early this morning (October 29), France Football Magazine held the 2024 Ballon d’Or Awards Ceremony. In the 2024 Men’s Ballon d’Or category, Rodri was honored.

The midfielder currently playing for Man City beat two Real Madrid players, Vinicius and Jude Bellingham, to win the prestigious award.

Last season, Rodri won Euro 2024 with Spain and won the Premier League for the fourth consecutive time with Man City.

However, while Rodri, despite his injury, still used crutches to receive the award, both Vinicius and Bellingham were absent from the award ceremony. The reason came from Real Madrid’s decision, no member of the Royal team – from coach, player to public relations director – traveled to Paris to attend the ceremony.

Previously, many prestigious newspapers confirmed that Vinicius was the winner of the Ballon d’Or. Real Madrid initially planned to attend with a large delegation and even prepared a celebration party for the Brazilian player.

However, when internal sources said that Rodri won the Ballon d’Or, Real Madrid was outraged and canceled all plans and boycotted the organizers.

As a result, the Bernabeu team was not interested in receiving the two awards for best club of the year and best coach of the year (Ancelotti). Vinicius angrily wrote on social media: “I will try ten times harder if necessary. They are not ready!”

Some international news sites have questioned the manipulation behind the votes and suggested that there were off-field reasons why Vinicius lost to Rodri at the last minute. However, the Ballon d’Or votes are usually made public after the award ceremony.