"Ballon d'Or"

Expert: ViniJR won’t win and won’t come either

The amusement factor is said to be limited in the case of Real striker Vinicius Junior.(Bild: AFP/APA/OSCAR DEL POZO)

Vinicius Junior will not (!) win the "Ballon d'Or" for the 2024 World Player of the Year this evening - at least that's what transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claims to have found out. According to him, the Real striker will not be attending the gala in Paris.

The list is said to have been leaked. Several international media outlets reported on Monday afternoon that they had the results of the Ballon d'Or vote. The big winner: Vinicius Junior. A few hours later, the next result is said to have been "leaked". Several international media reported on Monday afternoon that they had the results of the "Ballon d'Or" vote. The big winner: Vinicius Junior. A few hours later, the next result was leaked to the public. With a different winner: Rodri from Manchester City. The confusion is perfect. This is exactly what transfer guru Fabrizio Romano stumbled into. And in turn "revealed" even more than the result: Vinicius will not even turn up at the gala in Paris this evening to collect the trophy for the runner-up. In fact, not a single representative of Real Madrid will be present. The sting is obviously there.

Haaland only fifth
According to the published list, ViniJR will actually finish in second place - right behind the beaming winner named Rodri. According to this result, Erling Haaland is only in fifth place.

Another platform claims to have leaked the following (completely different) list beforehand. There are quite a lot of uncoverers on the Internet.

Who will actually win now? Just follow our live ticker - we'll be reporting for you from 8.30 pm:

The last winners were Lionel Messi (2023, 2021, 2019), Karim Benzema (2022), Luka Modric (2018) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2017). This year, for the first time in over twenty years, none of these stars made it onto the shortlist. On September 4, the trade magazine announced the list of 30 finalists. Manchester City's Erling Haaland, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham (both from Real Madrid) were considered the favorites - leaked lists or not.