Rodri Won The Ballon D'Or After The Gemilang Season At Manchester City And The Spanish National Team

JAKARTA - Manchester City midfielder Rodri has been awarded the Ballon d'Or after an extraordinary season of winning trophies with The Citizens and the Spanish national team.

The award was handed over by Rodri at a ceremony in Paris on Monday, October 28, 2024, local time, or Tuesday, October 29, 2024 WIB.

"A very special day, for me, my family, and my country," said Rodri.

"I understand that because I don't have social media, people don't really know me."

"I'm just an ordinary man. I enjoy this sport, I enjoy my profession. I try to be a good person. I'm a very calm person," said Rodri as quoted by ESPN.

The 28-year-old won his fourth Premier League in a row with Manchester City in May 2024.

Pep Guardiola's side stopped Arsenal's resistance, winning their last nine games to win the league title.

Rodri is the first player from the top level of the English league to be named the Ballon d'Or since Cristiano Ronaldo won in 2008 during his first stint with Manchester United.

The 28-year-old is part of the Spanish national team winning Euro 2024. He started every game except for a third group stage match against Albania.

In addition, at the end of Euro 2024, Rodri claimed the award for the best player.

He set a world record of 74 unbeaten matches for his club and country from March 2023 to May 2024.

Rodri helped the team avoid defeat (other than through penalties) to Manchester City's defeat to Manchester United in the FA Cup final on May 25, 2024.

The midfielder became Spain's second-born male player to win the most prestigious individual award in the sport, as well as the first since former Barcelona star Luis Suarez claimed in 1960.

Meanwhile, Rodri's toughest competition for the Ballon d'Or came from Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid), who refused to come to Paris to attend the ceremony after learning that he would not take the trophy home.

Jude Bellingham was in third place in the vote.

Vinicius has been a major competitor to win the 2024 best player award after leading Madrid to La Liga and Champions League titles last season.

However, several sources told ESPN that neither he nor fellow nominees from Real Madrid, a total of eight people at various awards would attend the event.

Madrid have won the previous award at the ceremony as the best team of players this year.

Then, Carlo Ancelotti received the best coaching award this year despite no representatives from him to accept it.

The Ballon d'Or is an award based on voting by a panel of journalists from the top 100 countries that are ranked FIFA.

The event was organized by French magazine France Football, in collaboration with UEFA.