The award of the recent Ballon d’Or for the best European-based footballer to Spain’s 28-year old Manchester City midfielder, Rodri, instead of the red-hot favourite, Real Madrid’s 24-year old Afro-Brazilian winger, Vinícius “Vini” Jr., is the most controversial decision in the 68-year history of this competition. Just before the award was announced in Paris, the assembled players, coaches, and administrators were chanting Vinícius’s name.
This decision was particularly curious as Real Madrid (which boycotted the award ceremony), won the team and coach of the year awards for their record-extending 15th European Champions League win, during which Vinícius had been named the best player of the competition, breaking Argentine legend, Lionel Messi’s record of being the youngest player to score in two finals.
Overseen by UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) and France Football, journalists from the 100 top-ranked footballing nations determine the Ballon d’Or winner, based on a complicated formula of awarding points to the top 10 players. The fact that Rodri’s Real Madrid team-mates, Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal, came third and fourth respectively in the voting, clearly worked against Vinícius.
This outcome represented a geo-political North-South divide, with the vast majority of the 40 European nations (nearly half of the electorate), the US, Israel, and former “White Dominions” Australia, Canada, and New Zealand voting for Rodri as first choice, while most African, Caribbean, and Middle Eastern journalists voted for Vini. Latin America was surprisingly divided, suggesting some regional resentment against five-time World Cup-winning Brazil. There were a few anomalies: Spain, France, Switzerland, and Greece voted for Vinícius, while South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Gabon, Uganda, Iran, and Palestine chose Rodri.
Brazilian journalists led the criticism of a decision they regarded as Eurocentric, unjust, and retaliatory, noting that Vinícius had been punished for his anti-racism activism. On the merits of the past season, this really should not have been a contest. In helping Madrid win the Champions League and La Liga, Vinícius had scored at least 20 goals in three successive seasons, while netting six often decisive goals in the Champions League including in the quarterfinal, semi-final, and final.
The Brazilian displayed blistering pace, mesmerising dribbling skills, close control, incisive passing, and clinical finishing. Though he has not shone for Brazil as he has for Real Madrid, the same criticism did not stop Messi from winning seven Ballons d’Or before Argentina’s 2022 World Cup triumph.
Rodri also had a good season in which he helped Manchester City win the league title, and was named player of the tournament when Spain won the European Championship (an award that his prodigious team-mate, Lamin Yamal, perhaps should have won). Rodri’s strengths are as a “ball-carrier” with solid tackling, aerial, and passing skills, though lacking the pace to be a truly great player.
Vinícius has faced countless incidents of ugly racism in Spain, including his effigy being hung from a bridge and racist chants from Valencia and other away fans. Lackadaisical Spanish football authorities have often condoned such racism, mirroring the anti-immigrant xenophobia pervasive in Spanish society.
The outspoken Vinícius accused La Liga of normalising racism, and defiantly noted “Black people have been suffering for a long time, and the time has to come when all this has to end.” Vini has also supported humanitarian projects to empower disadvantaged Brazilian youth.
Outspoken Algerian-French 2022 Ballon d’Or winner and Viní’s former Real Madrid team-mate, Karim Benzema, best captured the outrage sparked by this travesty: “There is nobody else who deserves it more than Vinícius.” Benzema went on to note that Rodri is a good player but “doesn’t do things that make me say “pfff.” Awarding the Spaniard the Ballon d’Or recalls the expression that one cannot put lipstick on a caterpillar and pretend it is a butterfly. Vinícius is undoubtedly the best footballer in the world.
Professor Adebajo is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship in South Africa.