Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Ballon d'Or, Football, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo
Marcus Chan
Topics: Ballon d'Or, Football, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo
The former captain of Equatorial Guinea, Juvenal Edjogo, has sensationally claimed that his Ballon d’Or votes were changed to favour Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
On Monday, the latest winner of the prestigious Ballon d’Or award will be announced at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France.
Ahead of the event, Real Madrid trio Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe are among the favourites to pick up the trophy.
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However, it has been highly speculated that Brazilian superstar Vinicius is set to be announced as the winner of the illustrious accolade.
Last year, it was claimed by Juvenal that his votes from back in 2013 were changed in order to support Messi and Ronaldo.
As reported by Diario AS, Juvenal told Gol Play: “What little I can say about this type of award is that in 2013, I voted for my three players for the Ballon d’Or, and I sent my votes, and in the end when it was made public, the list of who voted for whom, my votes were different.
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“It said I voted for Messi, Cristiano, and I don’t know who else, but I didn’t vote for any of them. That’s why I say, I don’t believe in absolutely anything about those awards. Since then, I’ve thought these awards have no value.”
However, it was also reported that Juvenal’s name was not actually listed on the public votes from 2013.
When Diario AS reached out to Juvenal for comment, he replied: “For the 2013 Ballon d’Or whose ballots were sent in September or October 2012, the only ones who voted were coaches and captains.
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“I was the captain of the Equatorial Guinea national team for more than 10 years and I sent my votes for Drogba, Iniesta and Falcao through a link that we had to fill in after downloading. I don’t know if my votes didn’t reach FIFA because a journalist impersonated me.”
Juvenal continued: “This topic did not matter to me at the time and I do not care now. I simply said that I voted for some players and in the end those votes did not reach their destination. I think I wasn’t the only one to whom something similar happened.”
SPORTbible has reached out to Juvenal for further comment.