According to one report, there was just 41 points between Ballon d’Or winner Rodri and runner-up Vinicius Jr.

The Manchester City midfielder took home the prestigious award at a ceremony in Paris last month; This ceremony was notable for the fact that the Brazilian player and other members of the Real Madrid team did not attend the event.

Learning of his snub, the Spanish giants reacted angrily, refusing to allow their representatives to attend the ceremony and issuing a statement claiming the result showed “Ballon d’Or-UEFA has no respect for the club”.

Details of the voting process were revealed by Fabrizio Romano, who claimed Rodri earned a total of 1170 points compared to the Madrid winger who received 1129 points.

While this margin of victory would represent the closest race in recent years, it is just over the seven points Lionel Messi won over Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk in 2019.

Rodri became the first defensive midfielder to win the Ballon d’Or award last month after a superb season with Manchester City and Spain.

Vinicius Jr. did not attend the ceremony in Paris after Real Madrid decided not to send their representatives to the event after learning of Rodri’s victory.

Since 2022, the current system is based on voting by a large panel of international journalists from countries in the top 100 of the FIFA rankings and the top 50 in the Ballon d’Or Feminin. In these rankings, only one journalist from each country is voted.

This is a five-vote system; That is, each journalist must make five choices from a shortlist, with each vote worth a different point.

The first place winner is awarded six points; Four points are awarded for second place, three points for third place, two points for fourth place and one point for fifth place.

The player with the most cumulative points wins the Ballon d’Or.

There is a list of evaluation criteria that voting journalists must take into account, including how successful the team they are playing for is that season, players’ individual behavior and contributions, and elements of fair play.

The key evaluation window to consider is based on the European season from August to July, rather than the calendar-based January to December period in 2022.

However, their reasons are not shared and the vote is completely subjective. Journalists can choose from a shortlist of 23 players from around the world. Originally this was an award restricted to European players in European clubs, later to all players playing for a European club, and since 2007 to all players worldwide.

At that time, the voting panel was expanded to include national team coaches and captains, but in 2016 he returned to journalism.

Lionel Messi won his sixth Ballon d’Or award in 2019, receiving six or seven votes more than Virgil van Dijk.

Between 2010 and 2015, FIFA and French Football reached an agreement to join forces and call it the FIFA Ballon d’Or.

However, this partnership ended in 2016, with Ballon d’Or reverting to its singular name, and FIFA has its own name, Best FIFA Men’s Player.

Messi has a 105-point lead over Erling Haaland in 2023, while Karim Benzema has 356 more points than Sadio Mane in 2022.