Rodri wins Ballon d’Or after Premier League, Euro 2024 glory

Manchester Metropolis midfielder Rodri has been awarded the Ballon d’Or after a stellar season that noticed him decide up silverware with each membership and nation.

Rodri was handed the award at a ceremony in Paris on Monday, organised by the French journal France Soccer in collaboration with UEFA.

“A really special occasion, for me, my household and my nation,” Rodri mentioned.

“I perceive that as a result of I’ve no social media, individuals do not know me a lot. I’m only a regular man. I benefit from the sport, I get pleasure from my career. And I attempt to be an excellent particular person. I’m a really calm particular person.”

The 28-year-old received his fourth straight Premier League with Metropolis in Might as Pep Guardiola’s aspect held off Arsenal’s problem, successful their final 9 video games to clinch the title. He’s the primary participant from England’s high tier to be topped since Cristiano Ronaldo received in 2008 throughout his first stint with Manchester United.

Rodri’s stiffest competitors for the Ballon d’Or got here from Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior, who refused to journey to Paris for the ceremony after discovering that he wouldn’t take dwelling the trophy. Jude Bellingham completed third within the voting.

Vinícius, 24, had been a number one contender to win the 2024 males’s prize after main Madrid to a LaLiga and Champions League double final season, however sources informed ESPN earlier on Monday that neither he nor his fellow Madrid nominees — eight in whole throughout the varied awards — would attend the occasion.

Madrid had been honoured earlier within the ceremony as the boys’s group of the yr, and Carlo Ancelotti acquired the coach of the yr award, although no representatives of the final Champions League winners had been current to simply accept it.

Rodri was a part of the Spain group that received Euro 2024, beginning each recreation besides the third group stage match in opposition to Albania, and claimed the participant of the event prize.

He went a world-record 74 video games unbeaten for membership and nation from March 2023 to Might 2024, avoiding defeat (aside from through penalties) till Metropolis’s loss to Manchester United within the FA Cup closing.

Rodri turns into the second male participant born in Spain to win the game’s most prestigious particular person prize, and the primary since former Barcelona star Luis Suárez claimed it in 1960.

Actual Madrid’s legendary striker Alfredo di Stefano received the award twice, in 1957 and 1959, although he was born in Argentina. The previous 4 Ballons d’Or Féminin have been received by Spanish girls (Alexia Putellas in 2021 and 2022 and Aitana Bonmatí in 2023 and 2024).

Rodri is prone to miss the remainder of the 2024-25 marketing campaign after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament damage throughout Metropolis’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Sept. 22. He collected the prize on crutches on Monday.

That knee damage got here simply days after he mentioned at a information convention that gamers might go on strike in response to the ever-growing variety of video games within the soccer calendar.

“I’m simply attempting to maintain myself. Relaxation, benefit from the free time with my household and are available again stronger,” Rodri mentioned when requested about his restoration.

Earlier in Paris, Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal received the Kopa Trophy for finest under-21 participant over the earlier season, whereas Aitana Bonmatí claimed her second consecutive Ballon d’Or Féminin.

Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappé shared the Gerd Müller trophy for many targets within the season, whereas Aston Villa and Argentina stopper Emiliano Martínez retained the prize for finest goalkeeper on the earth following his nation’s Copa América title.