Florentino Perez points to a change in the voting system for the Ballon d’Or, but Vinicius would also have finished second with the previous | Relief

Almost a month after the gala concert Golden BallRodri’s award and Vinicius’ second when he looked like a winner are still alive. Especially at Real Madrid. This question took up part of Florentino Pérez’s speech at the regular General Assembly, held this Sunday.

“The truth is that it is very difficult to explain why a Real Madrid player did not win, but the truth is that things happened that are certainly surprising.”said Florentino Perez, who explained to members the decision not to attend the awards ceremony.

Their criticism was the lack of independence of the prize. after an agreement between Amaury, the owner France Football And L’Equipewith UEFA and in the meager, in his opinion, prestige of some of the journalists who voted. He also lamented the absence of some densely populated countries and the presence of others with small populations, but this has not changed: journalists from countries whose teams are in the top 100 of the FIFA rankings vote.

Changing the voting system

Among his criticisms Florentino pointed to a change in the voting system. “For example, the statement of UEFA and the Amaury group, owners of France Football And L’EquipeWith regard to its agreement to organize the Ballon d’Or in November 2023, it has expressly stated that the entry of UEFA will not have any impact on the voting system, which will remain unchanged and independent,” said the President of Madrid during his speech.

“That’s what the UEFA statement said, but it wasn’t like that. They changed the voting system, increasing the number of players who must vote from 5 to 10.. The points that each journalist can give to one player have also increased from 6 to 15 points. More than twice,” he added.

Florentino is right to point out the inconsistency of the partners in the award, because the statement dated November 3, 2023 stated that there would be no changes: “As part of the agreement, Grupo Amaury continues to be the owner of the Ballon d’ Or brand and continue to control the voting system, which will remain unchanged and independent. And there were: In 2023, journalists had to vote for five players and rate them 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point. This year they were asked to choose 10 and rate them 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.

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Result with previous system

These changes, however, do not explain Rodri’s victory, which I would have won too if voting had been carried out under the old system..

The Manchester City midfielder has 1,170 points after being selected first 49 times.22 are second, 9 are third, four are fourth and three are fifth. And Vinicius finished second with 1,129 points after being named best player 35 times, second 31 times, third 13 times, fourth five times and fifth six times.

With these votes and the 2023 result, The result would be 420 points for the Spanish midfielder and 389 for the Brazilian forward.

. The change in system does not explain why Rodri won and not Vinicius.

What stung the Brazilian most was the presence of his two teammates, Bellingham and Carvajal, among the top vote-getters, third and fourth in the final classification of the award. Nine journalists named one of the two as the best player. If Vinicius had been chosen, the Madrid player would have received 1196 points, 26 more than Rodri..