Real Madrid's first official word after Ballon d'Or controversy: "Rodri deserved a Ballon d'Or, but not this year"

Real Madrid's president Florentino Pérez gave the first official word from the club about the Ballon d'Or issue since he ordered at the last minute not to go, as they knew Vinícius Jr. had not be chosen as winner, instead going to Manchester City's Rodri Hernández.

"From here I would like to say to Rodri that he has the affection and recognition of Real Madrid because, without a doubt, he deserved a Ballon d'Or, but not this year. His Ballon d'Or should have been last year, when he won everything with his team and scored the decisive goal in the final of the Champions League".

Talking in the 2024 Ordinary General Assembly, Pérez was very critical about the Ballon d'Or, thinking the "clearly, this year the Ballon d'Or should have gone to a Real Madrid player, regardless of the criteria applied". And added that Dani Carvajal and Jude Bellingham also could have won it over Rodri.

Florentino Pérez criticized UEFA's intevention in voting process

Pérez is particularly sceptical about the voting process. Despite being transparent, Pérez thinks it doesn't make sense. "It is surprising that, being football so global, journalists from countries as populated as India don't vote, and others with less than a million people do vote."

"Without Namibia, Uganda, Albania and Finland, Vinícius would have won the Ballon d'Or", he added. Rodri won the trophy just 41 points ahead of the Brazilian player.

Pérez also points that Juha Kanerva, Finnish journalist who left Vini out of his top 10 "due to a technical error", according to his own words, has resigned. UEFA didn't put pressure on any journalist, but they did change the voting process, increasing the number of votes each journalist could assign.

"I personally believe that the Ballon d'Or should be organised independently and the votes for this award should be in the hands of people of renowned prestige and solvency in the world of football, who risk their reputation with their vote".