Real Madrid will once again snub the Ballon d’Or awards in 2025, after doing so in last year’s edition, GIVEMESPORT reports.
The reason is that their long-standing feud with the competition’s organisers hasn’t subsided after Vinicius Jr was ‘robbed’ of the award this time last year.
The Real star came second in the award after scoring 24 goals in 39 games in the 2023/24 season, as well as scoring the winner at Wembley in their 2-0 Champions League final win over Borussia Dortmund.
However, with club chiefs being agreed by the decision, this will be the second time they have turned down a place at the awards
The report by French outlet L’Equipe states that there is friction between Real and the Ballon d’Or, which is set to continue this month.
The feud began when Vinicius was ‘widely’ expected to win the Ballon d’Or last season, though it was reported late on that Manchester City star Rodri was instead going to win the award, leading to Real Madrid’s delegation completely skipping the event in Paris, with the club instead ‘kickstarting a formal protest against the committee’.
That will continue into this season’s award, which is scheduled to take place on Monday, September 22 in Paris, with Real chiefs being unlikely to send any representatives this month.
That includes club officials and players, despite recent peace attempts between the club and FIFA, who were the initiators to try to solve the angst, but Real are maintaining their formal protest after raising objects as to how the scoring is done and how UEFA are involved in the process.
Indeed, a report by Marca (via the Daily Mail) states that Ballon d’Or chiefs flew to Spain to address the snub, with crunch talks being held with the La Liga giants.
That was held in Madrid over the past few months, and the meeting was described as tense, ultimately ending without an agreement that would see Real return to the awards in September.
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Relations between the two have rarely been strained, with Real upholding their view that they have been given a ‘historic robbery’.
Vinicius, Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham have been selected for the major gong, but it’s thought that the award will go to either Ousmane Dembele or teenage sensation Lamine Yamal.
The last Real Madrid player to win the Ballon d’Or was Karim Benzema in 2022, and they have 12 wins overall, the joint-most alongside Barcelona with Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Alfredo di Stefano and Ronaldo Nazario being the recipients.