Vinicius Jr and Real Madrid boycott the 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony

Vinicius Junior and his Real Madrid teammates will not travel to Paris for the Ballon d’Or ceremony on Monday as they believe Manchester City midfielder Rodri will win the award.

Vinicius, 24, was a leading contender for the 2024 men’s top prize after leading Madrid to a La Liga and Champions League double last season.

Football transfer expert Fabrizio Romano on his X-address reported that the Brazilian and his fellow candidates in Madrid – Jude Bellingham, Dani Carvajal, Kylian Mbappe, Antonio Rudiger, Federico Valverde, as well as Andrei Lunin, nominated for the title of best goalkeeper, Arda Güler, nominated for the Copa Cup, and Carlo Ancelotti, nominated for best coach, will not attend the event, organized by France Football magazine in collaboration with UEFA.

One club source said it was “unfair” and “disgraceful” that Vinicius did not receive the award.

Not attending the ceremony is a protest in the form of not traveling to avoid boycotting what another club source considers a “historic robbery.”

Vinicius scored 15 goals in La Liga last season, as well as six in the Champions League, including in Madrid’s semi-final win over Bayern Munich and the final against Borussia Dortmund.

In recent weeks there has been a feeling in Madrid that the striker is likely to be in contention for the award.

“I think he will win,” Ancelotti said last week.

Vinicius could become the first Brazilian to win the men’s Ballon d’Or since Kaka in 2007.

The 2023 Ballon d’Or was won by Lionel Messi – his eighth – and in 2022 the prize went to Madrid’s Karim Benzema.

Vinicius scored a second-half hat-trick in Madrid’s 5-2 Champions League comeback win over Dortmund last week and then thrashed Barcelona 4-0 in the Clasico on Saturday.

He scored twice for Brazil in the Copa America in the summer – both goals coming in a 4-1 win over Paraguay – but struggled overall in the tournament as the team were eliminated by Uruguay in the quarter-finals.

Rodri was a key figure in City winning the Premier League in 2023/24 and then played for Spain on their way to winning Euro 2024.