Man City’s Rodri Accuses Ballon d’Or Of Selecting Winners Based On Money

Manchester City and Spanish defensive midfielder, Rodri, believes that the organisers of the Ballon d’Or don’t give the award based on form but on the potential of the winner to generate more revenue for them.

The Ballon d’Or is seen as the most prestige football award in the world and it was founded and organized by a French publication, France Magazine.

In the last 15 years, Lionel Messi and his career rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, have won 13 editions of the award. Only Luka Modric of Croatia and Real Madrid has ever won the award in the era of Messi and Ronaldo.

In the 2023 edition of the award, most football enthusiasts weren’t expecting Messi to finish as the winner since he didn’t perform extraordinarily during the period used for selecting the nominees, December 2022 and August 2023.

However, Messi won the award ahead of Erling Haaland who won the treble – UEFA Champions League, the Premier League, and the FA Cup – with Manchester City.

The 36-year-old Argentine footballer also won his eighth Ballon d’Or award ahead of Kylian Mbappe who was the talisman for PSG last season.

Rodri who is seen as one of the engine rooms of the coach Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning team finished 5th in the 2023 Ballon d’Or ranking, behind 4th placed Kevin De Bruyne of Belgium and Manchester City.

When The Mirror asked Rodri why he didn’t make the top three in the 2023 Ballon d’Or, the Spanish midfielder said: “I am not surprised. This is normal. I understand very well how things work in these individual awards.

“They are based on marketing, money, and advertising.

“There have been midfielders before who were also Spanish who did not get what they deserved. Do you understand what I mean? (Laughs). What ultimately matters to me in football is what I achieved collectively.”