It seems clear that Real Madrid was one of the main reasons behind Vinicius Junior’s loss of the Ballon d’Or, after looking at the voting details published by France Football.
The Ballon d’Or award is based on the votes of journalists from around the world, and during the 2024 edition, 99 journalists participated, and not only a representative from Syria voted.
Rodri won the Ballon d’Or in an unexpected surprise, and because of it, Real Madrid refused to attend the ceremony in protest of Vinicius’ loss despite his great performance last year.
Vinicius Junior lost the Ballon d’Or by a very small margin
According to the figures published by France Football, Vinicius Junior lost the Ballon d’Or by a very small margin over Rodri.
Rodri scored 1,170 points, compared to 1,129 points for Vinicius, meaning that the Real Madrid star lost the award by only 41 points.
Rodri came in first place in the vote of 49 journalists, including England, Germany, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands, compared to 35 journalists who chose Vinicius in first place.
Rodri is our 2024 Ballon d’Or! Find out more about the 2024 voting details!https://t.co/1OgZ3qMk90#ballondor pic.twitter.com/kb69T161DD
— Ballon d’Or (@ballondor) November 8, 2024
Real Madrid stars are among the reasons for Vinicius losing the Golden Ball
It is clear that the presence of Jude Bellingham, Dani Carvajal, Toni Kroos and Kylian Mbappé in the Golden Ball race had a very negative impact on Vinicius Junior and contributed to the fragmentation of votes, which ultimately worked in Rodri’s favor.
Bellingham came in first place in the vote of 5 journalists, compared to 4 who chose Dani Carvajal, 2 who chose Toni Kroos, and the Ivorian journalist who chose Kylian Mbappé.
In fact, if all of these votes went to Vinicius, and if Real intensified its campaign for the Brazilian to win the Golden Ball only, the title would have been easily decided in its favor.
