Aitana Bonmati has won the Ballon d’Or Feminin award for the second year running, while Rodri pipped Vinicius Junior to the men’s Ballon d’Or award in a surprising outcome at the 2024 edition of the ceremony.
Ahead of the awards night, while Real Madrid forward Vinicius had long been seen as the front-runner, rumours emerged that his club had opted out of sending a delegation to France where the Ballon d’Or is hosted, on the suspicion that he had been overlooked in favour of Manchester City midfielder Rodri. That proved to be the case, with nobody from the Santiago Bernabeu club present to accept several trophies which they or individuals from their team won, and no pre-recorded messages sent in to France Football.