- It’s been reported none of Real Madrid’s nominated players will attend the event
- It follows reports that the winner of the Ballon d’Or had been leaked on Sunday
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Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr has reportedly refused to attend tonight’s Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris, as he believes the result is a foregone conclusion.
In fact, Spanish press have reported no player, member of the management nor coaching staff will be in attendance at the glitzy ceremony tonight, held at the Theatre du Chatelet.
The shock news comes after it was reportedly leaked on Sunday that the winner of football’s most iconic individual prize was Vinicius Jr.
But in a twist of fate this list was wrong and that the winner is in fact Manchester City‘s midfield maestro, Rodri.
RMC reported that ‘Real president Florentino Perez is furious’ and as a consequence, the ‘Real Madrid delegation has cancelled its visit to Paris’.
Vinicius Jr and Real Madrid ‘will now BOYCOTT tonight’s glitzy Ballon d’Or ceremony
This shock news comes after it was reportedly leaked that Man City ‘s Rodri has won
The official unveiling of the new winner will be confirmed at Monday’s glitzy awards ceremony, which is due to begin around 7pm (UK time).
But the result claimed to have been leaked as a list appearing to show the top 12 players based on voting points went viral via social media on Sunday.
The unconfirmed list shows Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior as the winner with 630 points – 54 more than Manchester City midfielder Rodri in second.
On the ‘leaked’ list, Jude Bellingham is third, while two other England stars are also in the top eight – Harry Kane in fifth and Phil Foden in eighth.
Kylian Mbappe is fourth, Lamine Yamal is seventh, while Dani Olmo, Florian Wirtz, Dani Carvajal and Antonio Rudiger are ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th respectively.
However, perhaps surprisingly, Man City goal machine Erling Haaland is only sixth on the list with 195 points.
Haaland – who finished second behind Messi in 2023 – scored 38 goals in 45 games for City last season.
One Portuguese-speaking journalist who shared the list on X (formerly Twitter) commented: ‘If this really is the leaked Ballon d’Or list, what explains Haaland in 6th? Vini Jr deservedly the best in the world.’