On October 28, Rodri was named the winner of the 2024 Ballon d`Or, but his victory came as a surprise to many.
Vinícius Jr., the talented Brazilian forward for Real Madrid, had been widely seen as the favorite to win.
Questions arose over how Vinícius, who had an outstanding season, finished so close to Rodri.
Now, two weeks after the ceremony, the organizers of the award, France Football, have revealed the full vote count. It turns out that Vinícius lost to Rodri by just 41 votes.
Vinícius received 1,129 votes, while Rodri, the midfielder for Manchester City and Spain, earned 1,170 votes.
The result was incredibly close, highlighting the fierce competition between the two players.
Before the ceremony, Real Madrid chose to boycott the event held in Paris, at the Théâtre du Châtelet, because they already knew Vinícius would not win.
Many fans and experts had believed that Vinícius, after winning La Liga, the Champions League, and the Spanish Super Cup with Real Madrid last season, would take home the award.
Vinícius was also named the best player in the Champions League for his performances last year.
Rodri, on the other hand, had a fantastic season with Manchester City.
He helped the club win the Premier League, UEFA Super Cup, and the Club World Cup.
He also played a key role in Spain`s victory at Euro 2024, where he was named the tournament’s best player.
France Football published the voting details in its print edition, and L`Équipe, a French newspaper, revealed that 99 journalists from the top 100 FIFA-ranked countries participated in the voting process.
The journalists selected their top 10 players from a shortlist.
The voting system gave 15 points for first place, 12 points for second, 10 points for third, and so on down to 1 point for the 10th player.
In total, 6,633 points were given to the players.
If a player had received a first-place vote from every journalist, they could have earned a maximum of 1,485 points.
The final results show how close the race was between Rodri and Vinícius, with just a 41-vote difference between them.
Rodri was ranked first by journalists in 49 countries, while Vinícius topped the list in 35 countries.
However, Rodri was not ranked in the top 10 by journalists from countries such as Bahrain, Bolivia, Colombia, the UAE, and Panama, while Vinícius was missing from the top 10 of journalists from El Salvador, Finland, and Namibia.
In an interesting twist, both Brazilian and Spanish journalists placed Vinícius at the top of their rankings.
According to Globo Esporte, in Argentina, Toni Kroos was ranked first, Rodri came second, and Vinícius was third.
Meanwhile, Jude Bellingham, the English midfielder for Real Madrid, was ranked first by journalists in 5 countries.
Dani Carvajal, another Real Madrid player, was ranked first by 4 journalists, and Toni Kroos, a former Madrid player, was ranked first by 2 journalists.
Despite the close vote, Rodri’s win proves how evenly matched the two players were this year.
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