Official Ballon d’Or Points Rankings Released

The voting points for the 2024 Ballon d’Or have finally been revealed, highlighting just how little separated the top two contenders. Manchester City star Rodri made history as the first defensive-minded player since Fabio Cannavaro to win the award, narrowly edging out Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr.

The Brazilian chose to boycott the ceremony in Paris after learning he would not be crowned the winner, a decision supported by other representatives of the Spanish giants. At 24, Vinicius may now feel even more aggrieved about missing out on the famous golden ball, as the newly publicised results show just how close he came.

Ballon d’Or Official Reveals What Cost Vinicius Jr the Award

There’s been an explanation for why the Real Madrid man didn’t receive his first Ballon d’Or

Vinicius Jr Misses out on Ballon d’Or by 41 Points

The defeat is by the smallest margin since Lionel Messi’s victory in 2021

According to results released by the official Ballon d’Or social media pages, Rodri narrowly edged out Vinicius Jr for football’s most coveted award by just 41 points. The 28-year-old ended with a total of 1,170 points, with his counterpart close behind on 1,129.

This margin of victory is the smallest since Lionel Messi’s controversial win over Robert Lewandowski in 2021, a year after the Polish star was widely considered a favourite but missed out due to the ceremony’s pandemic-related cancellation. It also marks the third-smallest gap between the top two since the points system was reintroduced in 2016, with Messi’s victory over Virgil van Dijk in 2019 being the narrowest, as the Argentine bested the Dutch defender by just seven points.

Elsewhere in the top 10, Jude Bellingham clinched third after finishing on 917 points, a massive 367 clear of teammate Dani Carvajal in fourth. Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Lautaro Martinez all finished with more than 400 points in fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

17-year-old Lamine Yamal finished almost 100 points clear of the now retired midfield maestro, Toni Kroos. Meanwhile, Harry Kane rounded out the top ten with just 201 points, almost 100 behind the eventual winner.