Rodri Wins the 2024 Ballon d'Or

At the 2024 Ballon d'Or awards ceremony, *France Football* officially announced that Manchester City’s Spanish midfielder, Rodri, won the 2024 Ballon d'Or!

During the 2023/24 season, Rodri made 50 appearances for Manchester City as a defensive midfielder, scoring 9 goals and providing 14 assists, helping City achieve an unprecedented fourth consecutive Premier League title. Throughout the season, Rodri only lost one match, extending his personal unbeaten streak to 74 games.

As the midfield core of the Spanish national team, Rodri helped Spain secure the UEFA European Championship title and was named the tournament's best player due to his outstanding performance. He was also selected for the best XI in both the Euros and the Premier League. In 2023, Rodri was also nominated for the Ballon d'Or and ranked fifth; this year marks his second Ballon d'Or nomination, and he ultimately took home the prestigious trophy.

Recently, Rodri suffered a serious knee injury during a match against Arsenal, ruling him out for the remainder of the 2024/25 season. He attended the awards ceremony on crutches today.

Rodri is now the first Manchester City player to win the Ballon d'Or and only the third Premier League player to win it in the Premier League era. The last Premier League winner was Cristiano Ronaldo in 2008. Rodri also becomes the third Spanish player to win the Ballon d'Or, after Alfredo Di Stéfano and Luis Suárez. Suárez, the last Spanish winner, won the Ballon d'Or in 1960—a span of 64 years.

In 2005, Ronaldinho became the first Ballon d'Or winner born in the 1980s. Since 2007, the award was dominated by players born in the 1980s—Kaká, Ronaldo, Messi, Modrić, and Benzema—for 16 consecutive years. Now, Rodri has become the first Ballon d'Or winner born in the 1990s.