Representatives of Real Madrid did not come to Paris at all.
Even before the awards ceremony began, it received the status of the most scandalous in recent years, if not in history. Of course, one can recall the controversial era of cooperation between France Football and FIFAwhen a lot of Ballon d’Ors were, according to many, distributed unfairly. You can remember individual stories about how Wesley Sneijder was “pushed” past the award, how they did not hand out a deserved and obvious award to Robert Lewandowski, refusing to hold the ceremony at all due to Covid. In short, there were many contradictory episodes. But the current story may surpass them all.
Impetuous castling
In recent weeks there have been persistent rumors that Vinicius would win the Ballon d’Or. It seemed so obvious that even Real Madrid representatives didn’t hesitate to comment on it. And the Brazilian himself allegedly ordered a card for his loved ones and representatives of the club, simultaneously booking a place for a party in the center of Paris.
But a few hours before leaving Madrid for the French capital, the charter was cancelled. And this gave rise to new rumors. As if at the last moment in France Football and of UEFA They changed something and decided to give the Ballon d’Or to Rodri. As a result, none of the representatives of Real Madrid went to the ceremony at the Chatelet theater. And it seemed strange. Now all that remains is to build conspiracy theories.
Why, for example, would Real suddenly take offence? of UEFA and French football? After all, everyone knows the scheme for determining the winner of the Ballon d’Or. This is the vote of sports journalists. The function of France Football is to count the votes and of UEFA – organize the ceremony. Did Real Madrid suddenly decide that these two organizations had somehow interfered in the counting to not give the prize to Vinicius?
Just because everyone said in advance that the Brazilian should receive this award? But these are mostly rumors that spread on their own. In football, where everything is saturated with information flows, this is a common occurrence. Someone started a rumor, another took it up, then a third, a fourth, and this rumor is already perceived by everyone as a decided fact. This could happen with the Vinicius assignment conversations. Furthermore, this year the organization was such that only a few knew down to the last person who would win the prize. Not even the traditional interviews and photo sessions with the winner were scheduled, as happened in previous years.
Therefore, the leak occurred only at the last moment, a few hours before the awards ceremony. But this, due to a combination of previous rumors and a reality that did not correspond to them, was perceived as a revision of the decision, even though nothing of the sort could have happened. The organizers decided to play with intrigue; the information leak occurred already in the technical preparation phase of the ceremony, when it was necessary to provide information on the winner to a larger number of employees involved.
Let’s go back to conspiracy theories. Its supporters often accuse official structures of following the agenda. They quickly condemned, for example, the awarding of the Socrates Prize to Jenny Hermoso for her contribution to football affairs. This is the same Hermoso, because of whose kiss a scandal broke out in the Spanish Football Federation. She is now described as an advocate for women’s rights in sport. “Another show,” the critics said of UEFA and France Football. But then there would be nothing more logical than awarding the Ballon d’Or to Vinicius, who is worse than the Toure brothers in pursuing the equality agenda and fighting racism.
Furthermore, of UEFA and France Football condemned itself to the furious wrath of all fighters for black rights by not awarding the prize to the Brazilian. It turns out that in one case they worked for the agenda, and in another – more critical – against it. Maybe that’s the problem again of UEFA and did France Football not interfere in the voting decision, as required by the regulations? This obvious contradiction does not occur to conspiracy theorists.
As for the football content of the current Ballon d’Or, obviously, there is still a lot of analysis and reasoning about various degrees of solidity to be addressed. But I would like to underline that this award is a kind of homage to those awards that should have gone to Andres Iniesta and Sneijder, but simply went to the most spectacular ones. Not to the hard workers who produce results, often remaining in the shadows for the common man, but to those who drown in the spotlight thanks to their feints, goals and shots. Rhodri is a hard worker. And it gets results. The merit of hard workers is appreciated.
By the way, as an author I dare to express my personal opinion directly for almost the first time. I would vote for Dani Carvajal, who last season combined his contribution to the result, his brilliance, his character and that same talent of a hard worker. But Dani came fourth in this voting. And it seems like it would be an ideal compromise on the newly opened battlefield.
As for Real’s initiative, only the Madrid team itself suffered reputational losses. After the symbolic defeat in El Clasico. Now they have also lost against those voices they first believed and then saw the disappointment in reality because of them. This is somewhat frivolous for a big club. After all, “Real” was often played at this ceremony, there was a lot of it. We must perceive these moments as adults, without succumbing to childhood resentments. On the other hand, we can also understand the people of Madrid who are sharpening their teeth of UEFA (although the latter is at odds with many top clubs, so this cannot be called the reason for some kind of prejudice). Real Madrid backed their clearly distraught leader, Vinicius. The relationship with France Football is episodic, but with the Brazilian they still have to achieve results and win trophies, working daily.
Under the sign of Barcelona
Well, let’s now move on to the other awards presented at the Chatelet theater in Paris. The evening began under the auspices of Barcelona. Which is even more symbolic in the absence of Real Madrid representatives. He was immediately named the winner of the Raymond Kop Award – this is an award for the best young footballer. As expected, it was Lamin Yamal, who, at his age, broke a lot of records starting from “the youngest”. From the youngest goal scorer for the Spanish national team and in the history of La Liga to the youngest participant in the final stage of the European Championship, scorer there and winner. Well, he became the youngest winner of the Raymond Cop Prize, at 17 years and 107 days. A record in a category that in itself implies youth.
For the sake of history, it is worth noting that second place was taken by Arda Guler of Real Madrid, third Kobby Mainu of Manchester United, fourth Savio of Manchester City and fifth Pau Kubarsi of Barcelona.
Then, no less predictably, the best women’s football team was named. Last season, Barcelona took all the prizes it could, which is why they recognized it as the best team, preferring Lyon. PSGChelsea and Gotham. But it seemed that the most popular and eye-catching award for the best men’s club had gone almost unnoticed. The fact is that Real has been recognized as such. They showed a short video, smiled and continued the ceremony: none of Madrid’s residents were in the room. Borussia Dortmund, Girona, Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City were also among the contenders.
The main women’s award, the Ballon d’Or, was also collected by a representative of Barcelona. For the second consecutive year the award went to Aitana Bonmati. The La Masia graduate, at 26, won the league and Copa del Rey, the Super Cup and the Champions League last season, scored 26 goals and made 21 assists in 57 games; For the fourth consecutive year, the women’s Ballon d’Or goes to a Barcelona team. Before Bonmati’s double, Alexia Putellas received the award twice.
Goalscorers and goalkeepers
It is for this reason that the Gerd Müller Trophy for his goalscoring exploits went to the lone Harry Kane. Although he shared this award with Kylian Mbappe. Last season they scored 52 goals. But the Frenchman was in solidarity with his Real Madrid teammates and did not come: Kane received his rare trophy alone.
There was no clear favorite in the goalkeeping category, but last season produced no shining figure who could be an undeniable dominator. Then the award for the second year in a row went to Emiliano Martinez, who helped Aston Villa qualify for the Champions League and played strongly for the Argentine national team. Among the competing candidates, Ronwen Williams of Mamelodi Sundowns stood out. This appears to be the first contender from Africa. In addition to them, Diogo Costa del Porto and Gianluigi Donnarumma del PSGGregor Kobel of Borussia Dortmund, Andrey Lunin of Real Madrid, Yann Sommer of Inter, Unai Simon of Athletic, Mick Maignan of Milan and Giorgi Mamardashvili of Valencia. It is clear that the latter three were most likely nominated for their performances in the national team.
Rewards for trainers without heroes
The Johan Cruyff trophy is assumed to be one of the main ones at the Ballon d’Or ceremony. But here too the current situation turned out to be strange. In women’s football, the award was awarded to Emma Hayes, who coached Chelsea, with whom she won the English championship, and now leads the national team. USAwho won the Olympic Games. The Englishman was unable to attend the awards ceremony. But I recorded a video message.
The best coach of the men’s team was Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, who beat Josep Guardiola of Manchester City, Xabi Alonso of Bayer Leverkusen, Luis de la Fuente of the Spanish national team, Lionel Scaloni of the Argentine national team and Gian Piero Gasperini of Atalanta . Ancelotti also didn’t come to the ceremony for obvious reasons. The organizers limited themselves to a short video on the screen. This episode turned out to be confusing, like everything related to Real Madrid in the context of the 2024 Ballon d’Or.
