The evening in Paris that delivered the 2024 Ballon d’Or into the hands of Rodri will be remembered as that of the triumph of Spanish football but also that of the ‘snatch’ of Vinicius Juniorindicated by everyone as a sure winner in recent weeks and instead mocked at the last corner. Such a setback that saw Real Madrid not show up en masse for the awards ceremony.
The Iberian triumph was strengthened by the success of Aitana Bonmati of Barcelona, with her second success in a row in the Women’s Ballon d’Or. A consecutive second also for Emiliano Martinez in the Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper, the Cruyff Trophy instead goes to Carlo Ancelotti of Real Madrid and Emma Hayes, former Chelsea coach and now coach of the USA Women. And then again the best teams are Real Madrid (men’s) and Barcelona (women’s). And then the Kopa Trophy for best young player goes to Lamine Yamal (early record), the best scorers of the season Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe share the Muller Trophy. While the Socrates Trophy for social and civil commitment goes to Jennifer Hermoso.
THE FINAL RANKING OF THE 2024 BALLON D’OR
1st Rodri (Manchester City)
2nd Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)
3rd Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
4th Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid)
5th Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
6th Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)
7th Lautaro Martinez (Inter)
8th Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
9th Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)
10th Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
11th Phil Foden (Manchester City)
12th Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)
13th Dani Olmo (Leipzig / Barcelona)
14th Ademola Lookman (Atalanta)
15th Nico Williams (Barcelona)
16th Granit Xhaka (Bayer Leverkusen)
17th Federico Valverde (Real Madrid)
18th Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa)
19th Martin Odegaard (Arsenal)
20th Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter)
21st Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
22nd Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid)
23rd Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
24th William Saliba (Arsenal)
25th Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
26th Declan Rice (Arsenal)
27th Vitinha (PSG)
28th Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen)
29th Artem Dovbyk (Girona / Rome)
29th Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund / Rome)