Rodri’s Ballon d’Or: Deserved or not?

Rodri becoming the first Manchester City player to win the Ballon d’Or award for the best player in the world on Monday did come as a surprise to many, and with ample reasons too as he pipped favourite Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid and Brazil to lift the most prestigious individual award in football.

While Vinicius’ claim to the award can not be undermined — given he had been the most influential player for Real Madrid in a season that they won the Champions League, LaLiga and Super Copa — doubts could also not be made about the City star’s credentials.

It’s just that the Ballon d’Or award has been dominated so much by attacking players over the years that seeing a midfielder bag it, especially when he was not even made favourite to win it while running against a prolific attacker like Vinicius, was bound to raise eyebrows.

Central midfielders don’t often appear in the race for the Ballon d’Or, let alone win it – a fact that could easily be established that in the last 17 years, only two midfielders won the award. The last one to win was Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric in 2018 and before him, it was Brazil’s Kaka in 2007 — and Kaka was hardly a traditional midfielder.

Not only midfielders, the criteria for winning the Ballon d’Or award is such that it sort of creates a barrier for any player other than a forward to win it — the last defender to win the award was Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 and the only goalkeeper to ever win it was Russia’s Lev Yashin in 1963.

The main three criteria for the award include individual performances, decisive and impressive character; team success, performances and achievements; and player behaviour, class and fair play. And, in that regard, a strong case for Rodri winning it could be made.

Rodri was one of the main figures for City in 2023-24, starting more matches (50) than any of his teammates, while he also played the most minutes (4,325) to help the English side an unprecedented fourth successive Premier League trophy. He was also named the best player at the Euro 2024, propelling Spain to a record-extending fourth title.

How pivotal Rodri was for Pep Guardiola last season could be gauged just from the matches he missed — in the nine games Rodri didn’t feature, City won just five, losing four of them.

Playing 50 games in all competitions for City, Rodri had 22 goal involvements (9 goals, 13 assists), having never previously register more than seven goals or over seven assists in a single campaign.

Passing is the ultimate trait of a midfielder and Rodri dominated in that aspect as well, averaging 111.2 passes per 90 minutes with an accuracy of 92.3% which accounted for more passes per 90 than any other player from Europe’s top five leagues in all competitions.

The 28-year-old midfielder also set a new Premier League record (since 2003-04) for successful passes (3,359) and successful passes in the opposition’s half (2,122) in a single season last year.

Hence, a deep look at Rodri’s credentials might just be able to make things a bit clear as to why the journalists from 100 top-ranked FIFA nations voted him in ahead of Vinicius — even though choosing a winner in a voting method is never free of bias.