A Manchester City star has been backed to cause an upset in the Ballon d’Or tonight, according to the results of an MEN Sport poll.
Vinicius Jr is currently the favourite to win the famous award after helping Real Madrid to a league and European double last season, including scoring in the Champions League final victory over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley.
Yet he faces a shock snub for the award according to the results of our poll, which has seen City midfielder Rodri backed to come out on top. The Spaniard enjoyed an excellent campaign last year as he helped City win a fourth consecutive Premier League title, also setting a 74-game personal unbeaten run with Pep Guardiola’s side – a streak that only came to an end in the FA Cup final.
Rodri was heavily backed to win the Ballon d’Or last year after helping City to a famous Treble, eventually coming fifth – and 28 per cent of respondents in our poll have backed him to come out on top this year. One area where the 28-year-old has the edge over Vinicius Jr is his international record: he helped Spain become European champions over the summer, playing in every game bar one during their successful Euro 2024 campaign
While Rodri may have been backed by a large percentage of fans to come out on top, there was less recognition for Erling Haaland’s achievements with City.
Haaland scored 27 league goals for Pep Guardiola’s side, comfortably winning the Golden Boot for the second year in a row. However, this was not enough to convince people he should win the Ballon d’Or with just 7% of respondents believing he should claim the award.
The Ballon d’Or ceremony takes place on Monday night in Paris and will mark the first time that UEFA has been joint-organisers of the event after the governing body joined forces with France Football magazine, who are the award’s founders. France Football has retained the organisation of the voting system, which will see a journalist from each of the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings have their say on who should win the award.
This voting system was put in place in 2022, when it was also decided that the award should be given for achievements during the preceding European season, rather than the calendar year as a whole. A new winner of the award is guaranteed this year, with none of the previous winners listed among the 32 players nominated. It is also the first time in 21 years that neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo have been nominated.