Vinícius Júnior, Real Madrid foregoes the Ballon d'Or award

Vinícius Júnior and his Real Madrid teammates did not travel to Paris for the Ballon d'Or ceremony on Monday after the team received news that Manchester City midfielder Rodri will receive the award, sources told ESPN.

Vinícius, 24, was one of the main contenders to win the 2024 Men's Cup after leading Madrid to a La Liga and Champions League double last season.

Sources told ESPN that the Brazil international and his Madrid nominees – Jude Bellingham, Dani Carvajal, Kylian Mbappé, Antonio Rüdiger, Federico Valverde, as well as Andriy Lunin, nominated for best goalkeeper, Arda Güler, nominated for the Kopa Trophy, and Carlo Ancelotti, nominated as best coach, would not take part in the event organized by France Football magazine in collaboration with UEFA.

A Real Madrid source said the club felt it was “unfair” and “a disgrace” that Vinícius would not win the award. Not attending the ceremony is a protest in the form of a boycott for what another club source describes as a “historic robbery.”

Vinícius scored 15 goals in LaLiga and six in the Champions League last season, including in Madrid's semi-final win over Bayern Munich and in the final against Borussia Dortmund.

There was a feeling in Madrid in recent weeks that the striker was likely to win the award.

“I think he will win,” Ancelotti said last week.

Vinícius would have been the first Brazilian to win the men's Ballon d'Or since Kaká in 2007.

The 2023 Ballon d'Or was won by Lionel Messi – his eighth – while in 2022 Madrid's Karim Benzema took the prize.

Vinícius scored a second-half hat-trick in Madrid's 5-2 Champions League comeback against Dortmund last week before appearing in the disappointing 4-0 defeat to Barcelona classic on Saturday.

He scored two goals for Brazil in the Copa América in the summer – both goals coming in a 4-1 win over Paraguay – but struggled throughout the tournament as Brazil were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Uruguay.

Rodri was a key figure in City's 2023/24 Premier League title and then played for Spain en route to victory at Euro 2024.