 "Why did Cristiano Ronaldo miss the 2024 Ballon d'Or ceremony and abstain from voting?")
The Ballon d’Or 2024 award ceremony on Monday was historic in many ways. Rodri who won the men’s Ballon d’Or 2024 award became the first Manchester City player to win the coveted honour while Aitana Bonmati became only the second female player to win the award twice. But something even more consequential was probably both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi not featuring in the list of nominees. This was the first time since 2003 that neither Ronaldo nor Messi were nominated for the Ballon d’Or award.
Messi is the most successful footballer in Ballon d’Or history, having won the prestigious award a record eight times, while Ronaldo has won it five times. It has now come to light that Ronaldo is “very upset” with the Ballon d’Or award ceremony and its organisers. Ronaldo, a proven winner, is reportedly unhappy after not featuring in the Ballon d’Or nominee list.
Ballon d’Or award chief Vincent Garcia, who is also the editor of France Football, the monthly magazine that awards the trophy, said Ronaldo did not vote for the Kopa Trophy, an award given to the best young player of the season.
“Winners have the right to come back to all future ceremonies but they don’t all come, some are very upset with us. I don’t know for certain Cristiano is, I don’t talk to him directly, but I know for example that former winners vote for the Kopa Trophy – for the best young player – and Cristiano didn’t vote last year and he didn’t vote this year either,” Garcia told The Times.
Ballon d'Or 2024 full rankings, winners
The former Ballon d’Or winners or footballers do not vote for the selection of the Ballon d’Or winner. That is done through voting among an international jury of specialised journalists. The jury includes one representative from the top 100 in the latest FIFA rankings.
One of the reasons Ronaldo was not nominated for Ballon d’Or could be his move to Saudi Pro League club AL-Nassr in 2022. Despite Ronaldo scoring a record 35 goals in the league last season, the Saudi Pro League is not seen as among the best in the world.
Real Madrid snub Ballon d’Or 2024 ceremony
Meanwhile, Ronaldo is not the only one who is unhappy with Ballon d’Or organisers. His former club Real Madrid boycotted the event in Paris on Monday after it became clear that Vinicius Junior was not going to win the men’s award. Even though Vinicius, Jude Bellingham, and Dani Carvajal of Real Madrid came second, third, and fourth in the final Ballon d’Or 2024 rankings and manager Carlo Ancelotti won the best men’s coach award, Real Madrid players and coach decided against attending the event.
“If the award criteria doesn’t give it to Vinicius as the winner, then those same criteria should point to Carvajal as the winner,” Real Madrid told news agency AFP. “As this was not the case, it is clear that Ballon d’Or-UEFA does not respect Real Madrid. And Real Madrid does not go where it is not respected.”
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