The Editor of France Football has broken his silence on the controversy surrounding Vinicius Jr following the 2024 Ballon d'Or ceremony which saw Rodri crowned the winner.
This year's ceremony was plunged into controversy when Fabrizio Romano revealed that Vini Jr and nobody from Real Madrid would attend the ceremony.
Their decision was based on the premise that they had been told Vini Jr would not be awarded the Ballon d'Or despite France Football insisting nobody knew the identity of the winner.
Following the confirmation of Rodri as winner, Vini took to social media to break his silence on the situation.
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He wrote on X: "I'll do it 10x if I have to. They're not ready."
After the ceremony, France Football's Chief Editor Vincent Garcia, was bombarded with questions on the situation.
Garcia remained adamant that Vini and Real Madrid wouldn't have known Rodri had won, and even took a sly dig at the Spanish giants.
“I can guarantee you that no one from City or Real Madrid knew, maybe they had a feeling. Maybe El Clásico didn’t help. I don’t know," he said.
“It was close. Vinícius probably suffered from the presence of Jude Bellingham & Dani Carvajal in Top 5.”
Garcia claimed that individuals at Madrid insisted they were told the winner prior to the ceremony, however, after France Football refused they assumed Vini had missed out.
“Real Madrid put pressure on me to know if Vini won, and maybe my silence made them think Viní lost, so they didn't show up," he explained.
"I'm unpleasantly surprised, but I don't wanna spend the night talking about it, I want to talk about our winner, Rodri.”
However, Garcia also revealed that Madrid weren't the only club that wanted pre-warning over the ceremony's winners.
“All favorite clubs insisted on having the information of who won, they didn’t know, we made it very clear, this year, the winner will not be notified before.”
Top 30 Ballon d'Or rankings in full:
29.Artem Dovbyk (Ukraine, Dnipro / Girona / Roma)
29.Mats Hummels (Germany, Borussia Dortmund)
28.Alex Grimaldo (Spain, Bayer Leverkusen)
27.Vitinha (Portugal, Paris Saint-Germain)
26.Declan Rice (England, Arsenal)
25.Cole Palmer (England, Chelsea)
24.William Saliba (France, Arsenal)
23.Ruben Dias (Portugal, Manchester City)
22.Antonio Rudiger (Germany, Real Madrid)
21.Bukayo Saka (England, Arsenal)
20.Hakan Calhanoglu (Turkey, Inter)
19.Martin Odegaard (Norway, Arsenal)
18.Emiliano Martínez (Argentina, Aston Villa)
17.Federico Valverde (Uruguay, Real Madrid)
16.Granit Xhaka (Switzerland, Bayer Leverkusen)
15.Nico Williams (Spain, Athletic Club)
14.Ademola Lookman (Nigeria, Atalanta)
13.Dani Olmo (Spain, RB Leipzig / Barcelona)
12.Florian Wirtz (Germany, Bayer Leverkusen)
11.Phil Foden (England, Manchester City)
10.Harry Kane (England, Bayern Munich)
9.Toni Kroos (Germany, Real Madrid)
8.Lamine Yamal (Spain, Barcelona)
7.Lautaro Martinez (Argentina, Inter Milan)
6.Kylian Mbappe (France, PSG / Real Madrid)
5.Erling Haaland (Norway, Manchester City)
4.Dani Carvajal (Spain, Real Madrid)
3.Jude Bellingham (England, Real Madrid)
2.Vinicius Jr (Brazil, Real Madrid)
1.Rodri (Manchester City, Spain)
Topics: Real Madrid, Vinicius Jr, Ballon d'Or, Rodri, Fabrizio Romano, Jude Bellingham
Tom Jenkins