Rodri says he is proud to compete for the Ballon d’Or with Vini Jr

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Spanish midfielder is one of Vinicius’ main competitors for the best in the world award

Rodri says he is proud to compete for the Ballon d’Or with Vini Jr

After the 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or award were announced , Rodri commented on the competition with Vinicius Junior. In an interview with ESPN, the Manchester City midfielder acknowledged the competition from the Brazilian and said he feels proud “just to be in the conversation”.

— People say I’m going to fight with Vinicius, who is a player I admire. I think he’s a great player. Just being in the conversation makes me very proud of the work I’ve done. It will depend on what people value and what they believe. For me it would be a dream — said Rodri.

Between July 2023 and June 2024, the period taken into account for the award, Rodri won the Premier League with Manchester City and also lifted the Euro 2024 trophy with Spain, being named the best player of the tournament.

According to the main bookmakers, Vinicius is the big favorite to win the best player in the world award, followed by Rodri and Bellingham. The Spanish player recalled fellow countrymen such as Xavi and Iniesta, who did not win the Ballon d’Or.

— There are a lot of people who say: ‘How is Rodri going to win if, for example, Iniesta or Xavi didn’t win’? I partially agree. They were players who defined an era, some of the best in history, but they lived in the generation of Messi and Cristiano. I think it would be a source of pride for me and for my whole country. Having a Spanish representative capable of winning the Ballon d’Or enriches everyone.

The winner will be announced at a ceremony on October 28 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. A total of 10 awards will be given out. The most important are the Ballon d’Or for the best player of the 2023/24 season in both the men’s and women’s categories. In the 2023 edition, the honors went to Messi, who won for the eighth time , and Aitana Bonmatí .

How the Ballon d’Or works

France Football draws up a list of 30 finalists — 20 of which are women — and submits it to journalists from the 100 countries with the highest rankings in the FIFA rankings. Each country makes its own Top 5, and points are awarded according to their position on the list. The player with the most points wins the Ballon d’Or. The votes for each professional are revealed after the ceremony.

Until 1994, the award was given only to European players. Later, France Football expanded the scope to include any player from clubs on the continent. From 2006 onwards, there were no more restrictions and any player in the world could be crowned

This is why Pelé and Maradona have never won the Ballon d’Or. In 2015, when he turned 60, France Football reviewed all his previous awards based on the current rules and recognized that the King of Football would win the trophy seven times: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1965 and 1970.

Since 2018, the magazine has introduced new awards: the Ballon d’Or for the best player, the Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper, and the Kopa Trophy for the best young player. In 2022, the new awards were the Gerd Müller Trophy, for the top scorer of the season, and the Sócrates Award, a recognition for those who are socially engaged.

The winners of the Ballon d’Or in history

  • 1st: Lionel Messi (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023): 8
  • 2nd: Cristiano Ronaldo (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017): 5
  • 3rd: Johan Cruijff (1971, 1973 and 1974), Michel Platini (1983, 1984 and 1985) and Marco van Basten (1988, 1989 and 1992): 3
  • 6th: Alfredo Di Stéfano (1957 and 1959), Franz Beckenbauer (1972 and 1976), Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1980 and 1981) and Ronaldo (1997 and 2002): 2
  • 11th: Stanley Mathhews (1956), Raymond Kopa (1958), Luis Suárez (1960), Omar Sivori (1961), Josef Masopust (1962), Lev Yashin (1963), Denis Law (1964), Eusébio (1965), Bobby Charlton (1966), Flórián Albert (1967), George Best (1968), Gianni Rivera (1969), Gerd Müller (1970), Oleg Blokhin (1975), Allan Simonsen (1977), Paolo Rossi (1982), Igor Belanov ( 1986), Ruud Gullit (1987), Lothar Matthäus (1990), Jean-Pierre Papin (1991), Roberto Baggio (1993), Hristo Stoichkov (1994), George Weah (1995), Mathias Sammer (1996), Zinedine Zidane (1998), Rivaldo (1999), Luis Figo (2000), Michael Owen (2001), Pavel Nedved (2003), Andriy Shevchenko (2004), Ronaldinho (2005), Fabio Cannavaro ( 2006), Kaka (2007), Luka Modric (2018) and Benzema (2022): 1