Congratulations to Rodri for the Ballon d’Or award
Yesterday the Spanish midfielder Rodri won the most prestigious individual football price there is to win – the Ballon d'Or. It should be said that Manchester City player won it fair and square, and truly is a worthy winner considering his performances in his club as well as his important part of the national team winning the Euro 2024.
However, a lot of voices are claiming that his win was a steal from Real Madrid’s Brazilian striker Vinícius Júnior, and that he was the true winner. It is true that Vinícius Júnior had a brilliant last season and would too have been a worthy winner. But the fact is that there can only be one winner and claiming that he is more worthy than Rodri is to diminish the Spaniards performance, and that is just ridiculous. If Vinícius Jr is a player that is good enough to win the Ballon d'Or, he should just suck it up and prove this season that he is a worthy winner...
Lamin Yamal won the Kopa Trophy...
...which is the Ballon d’Or jury award for the best under 21 years old - but this is not the Golden Boy award. Sure, this is yet another indicator that Lamine Yamal is the big favourite to win the award this year, but he is still not quite there yet. Until the 4th of December, when the Golden Boy award officially is announced, Yamal is still not a Golden Boy award winner.
Other winners during the Ballon d’Or ceremony
Here are some other winners from yesterdays Ballon d'Or award gala:
- The Spanish Aitana Bonmatí won the Ballon d'Or Féminin - in other words the female Ballon d’Or. This was the second year in a row the Barcelona player won this award.
- The Yashin Trophy, which is the award for the best goal keeper in the world, was won by the Argentinian Emiliano Martínez, playing for Aston Villa.
- The Gerd Müller Trophy is an award that is given to the best goal scorer, where both club goals and national team goals are counted, was shared between Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappé, both scoring 52 goals each.
- The Sócrates Award is an award given to a football player that has done most humanitarian work, and the award was given to the Spanish Jenni Hermoso
- On a club level Real Madrid the “Club of the Year” award, and Barcelona won the women version of it.
- Finally, the Johan Cruyff Trophy, which is given to the best coaches on both the men and women side, was won by Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti, and Chelsea’s (and the US national women’s team) Emma Hayes won the award on the women’s side.