Official: Final 2024 Ballon d’Or rankings of Real Madrid stars as Vinicius finishes 2nd | OneFootball

Heading into Monday’s Ballon d’Or 2024 ceremony, expectations were high that Real Madrid would see the Golden Orb return to the Santiago Bernabeu as Vinicius Jr. appeared to be the favourite to win.

However, news filtered in during the afternoon that the Brazilian was not winning the Ballon d’Or and instead, it was Manchester City’s Rodri who would triumph.

In the end, that is how things turned out as Vinicius Jr. ended up securing the runners-up spot in the 2024 Ballon d’Or rankings much to the frustration and anger of Real Madrid who no-showed at the event as a sign of respect for the Brazilian winger.

Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham also secured a podium finish, ending up third on the Ballon d’Or rankings after a scintillating debut season with Los Blancos.

Real Madrid had three more representations in the Ballon d’Or top ten for the year as Dani Carvajal, Kylian Mbappe, and Toni Kroos finished in the fourth, sixth, and ninth places, respectively.

Meanwhile, Federico Valverde ended up with the 17th spot in the standings while defensive mainstay Antonio Rudiger was consigned to the 22nd position in the final rankings.

As for the other awards, Arda Guler secured the runners-up spot in the Kopa Trophy rankings, behind winner Lamine Yamal.

Andriy Lunin failed to win the Yachine Trophy, with Aston Villa and Argentine star Emiliano Martinez getting the award.

Real Madrid were named the Men’s Club of the Year while Carlo Ancelotti was named the Best Coach of the Year. Kylian Mbappe also won the Gerd Muller Trophy for most goals scored (52) last season, joint-tied with Harry Kane.

But there were no delegates from the club to collect the awards.