Manchester City midfielder Rodri has emerged the winner of this year’s Ballon d’Or award, beating competition from Real Madrid trio of Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior and Dani Carvajal.
The Spanish international becomes the second Premier League Player to win the coveted award in 16 years since Cristiano Ronaldo won it in 2008.
This was as Barcelona and Spain star Aitana Bonmati on Monday won her second successive women’s Ballon d’Or, after leading her club to a historic continental quadruple of titles and claiming the Nations League with her country.
It was a trophy-laden season for Rodri, lifting the Premier League, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup with City, as well as Euro 2024 with Spain.
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Since Luka Modric won the award in 2018, Rodri is the first midfielder to win it. Lionel Messi has won three of the prizes since then, with Karim Benzema winning one.
The award did not hold in 2020 because of COVID-19, denying Robert Lewandowski the chance to win the trophy.
Recall that Bonmati joins team-mate Alexia Putellas as the only women to win the Ballon d’Or twice, since the award’s inauguration in 2018.
“This cannot be achieved alone, I am very lucky to be surrounded by players who make me better every day,” Bonmati said after receiving the award.
“Thanks to the staff, to the club workers, without you we would not achieve so much success,” the 26-year-old playmaker said.
The Catalans won every trophy available to them last term — the Spanish league, the Copa de la Reina, the Supercopa de Espana and a second-successive Women’s Champions League.
Bonmati scored a goal and put in a player-of-the-match performance as Barcelona beat Lyon 2-0 in the final of the Champions League to claim their third title in four seasons.
Already considered an all-time great of the women’s game, Bonmati was the stand-out performer as Barcelona romped to a trophy-laden 2023/24 season.
Lookman Ranked 14th World Best Player
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Ademola Lookman has been ranked number 14 in the 2023 Ballon d’Or award which is holding in Paris, France.
The Atalanta forward narrowly missed out in joining Victor Osimhen to become the only Nigerians to have made the top 10 in the Ballon d’Or award. Osimhen was ranked in the 8th position last year.
Lookman is however the only African player that made the award nomination list this year.
Ranked at the 14th place for the 2024 Men’s Ballon d’Or! @Alookman_ @Atalanta_BC @thenff #ballondor pic.twitter.com/G1cXMd1jT8
— Ballon d’Or (@ballondor) October 28, 2024
Lookman was in scintillating form as Atalanta won its first-ever European trophy last season, with the Nigerian scoring a hat-trick in the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen.
He scored scored 17 goals and made 11 assists in all for Atalanta last season.
The former Everton player was also instrumental in the Super Eagles run to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire early this year.
He scored two goals as the Nigerian team finished as runners up in the competition after losing 2-1 to the hosts in the final.
In the new season, Lookman has picked up from where he stopped last season, recording 5 goals, 3 assists so far. One of the goals is for Nigeria against Benin Republic in Africa Cup of Nation’s qualifier.
Lookman has also been shortlisted by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the 2024 African Footballer of the Year award.
This year’s Ballon d’Or list is dominated by players from the Spanish national team which won the Euro 2024 in the summer and the Real Madrid team that won the UEFA Champions League.
