Monday’s Ballon d’Or ceremony will see a first-time winner lift the famous award after no previous winners made the 32-player nomination shortlist.
Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr is favourite to win the award after helping Los Blancos to a La Liga and Champions League double last season, scoring in the final of the latter in a 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley. Yet the 24-year-old is not guaranteed to win the award, and he faces plenty of stiff competition, including from Arsenal and Chelsea stars.
Cole Palmer’s incredible debut season for Chelsea earned him a place on the shortlist alongside Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, who has been shortlisted for the award for a second time after earning his first nomination last year. Yet it’s a different Premier League star who has been tipped to win the award according to the results of a football.London poll.
Man City midfielder Rodri, who is currently second-favourite, came out on top in a poll asking readers to vote on who they think should win the Ballon d’Or, taking 28 per cent of the overall vote.
Rodri helped City to a fourth successive Premier League title, also setting a record as he went 74 consecutive club games unbeaten – a streak that was only ended in the FA Cup final loss to rivals Manchester United.
The 28-year-old’s international success may have given him the edge in the poll over Vinicius Jr, who finished second with 22 per cent, with Rodri having also helped Spain to become Euro 2024 champions.
Rodri played in all but one of Spain’s matches as they became European champions, also scoring the equaliser in a 4-1 win over Georgia.
International success may also have played a role in who came third in the poll, with Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez getting 10 per cent of the vote after starring in Argentina’s Copa America win.
The former Arsenal keeper saved two spot kicks in a quarter-final penalty shootout victory over Ecuador before also keeping clean sheets in the semi-final and the final to help his country become champions.
Palmer finished fourth in the vote with eight per cent, whilst Saka finished joint-fifth alongside Erling Haaland with seven per cent.
This year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony takes place on Monday night in Paris and will be the first to be co-organised by UEFA.
France Football, the magazine that founded the famous award, have retained the voting system, which sees a sports journalist from each of the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings casting a vote. This system was slimmed down in 2022, when it was also decided the award would cover the duration of the previous European season, rather than the calendar year.
This will also be the first Ballon d’Or in 21 years that does not feature either Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo on its shortlist.
