Rodri wins the Men’s Ballon d’Or 2024, but Real Madrid boycotts the event.

Rodri, a Manchester City and Spain midfielder, was named the men’s Ballon d’Or winner on Monday after winning his fourth consecutive Premier League championship and Euro 2024, although Real Madrid boycotted the ceremony.

The choice to give the accolade for the world’s finest player to the midfielder surprised many, since Real Madrid’s Liga and Champions League double champion Vinicius Junior was largely regarded as the frontrunner.

The Spanish club declared hours before the event in Paris that its delegation would not attend the ceremony at the Chatelet Theatre due to what it considered a snub to Vinicius.

Rodri, 28, helped City defeat Arsenal to win the Premier League championship last season and was voted player of the tournament at Euro 2024, where unfancied Spain triumphed in Germany.

In his post-awards news conference, Rodri was gracious when asked about Real’s absence.

“They have their decision; they didn’t want to be here for their reasons,” he informed me. “I just focus on my club and my teammates.”

Despite the French organisers’ insistence that the winner’s name be kept a secret this year, the information appears to have leaked before the festivities.

Aitana Bonmati of Barcelona and Spain previously earned her second consecutive women’s Ballon d’Or after guiding her team to an unprecedented continental quadruple and winning the Nations League with her country.

Real Madrid did not show up.

The controversy began hours before the presentation, when Spanish and European champions Real Madrid stated that if Vinicius did not win, his colleague Dani Carvajal should receive the prize.

Carvajal, like the Brazilian, scored in the Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium, which ended 2-0.

Vinicius guided Madrid to three trophies last season, scoring 24 goals and assisting 11 times in 39 appearances across all competitions.

“If the award criteria don’t give it to Vinicius as the winner, then those same criteria should point to Carvajal as the winner,” a representative from Madrid told AFP.

“Because this was not the case, it is apparent that Ballon d’Or-UEFA does not value Real Madrid. And Real Madrid will not go where it is not recognized.

The Madrid nominees included Kylian Mbappe, Antonio Rudiger, Fede Valverde, and Jude Bellingham.

A worldwide panel of 100 professional journalists selects the Ballon d’Or winner from among the shortlist.

The organisers, the Amaury company, which owns the sports daily L’Equipe and France Football magazine, denied to AFP that the identity of the successor to last year’s men’s champion Lionel Messi had been leaked, insisting that “no player or club” knew who would win ahead of time.

When Real was selected men’s team of the year, a video was shown on stage in the absence of any club representatives.

‘Best in his position’

Pep Guardiola, City manager, has rated Rodri as “the best in his position.”

“He can accomplish anything. “The quality, he reads the game, his mentality—he is always prepared,” Guardiola stated.

In addition to his metronomic passing and ball-winning ability, the former Atletico Madrid star has a tendency for scoring important goals for both club and country.

His goal earned City their first Champions League title in 2023, but he also scored crucial goals for Spain, including an equalizer in their last-16 Euro 2024 match against Georgia.

Rodri is so important to Manchester City that their last four Premier League defeats have all occurred while he was unavailable.

City lead the Premier League, but their ambitions of capturing a seventh consecutive domestic crown were dashed in September when Rodri sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury that sidelined him for the season.

Bonmati, 26, joins her Barcelona teammate Alexia Putellas as the only woman to have won the Ballon d’Or twice since its inception in 2018.

“This cannot be achieved alone; I am very lucky to be surrounded by players who make me better every day,” Bonmati shared.

Last season, the Catalans won every title available to them, including the Spanish League, Cup, Super Cup, and a second consecutive Women’s Champions League.