Why Rodri's 2024 Ballon d'Or win over Vinícius is historic - ESPN

Editor's note: This article, originally published on Oct. 25, has been updated to reflect the result of Monday's Ballon d'Or ceremony.

Can the ultimate team player ever hope to win the Ballon d'Or, the most prized individual award in football? That was the question being asked of Rodri, the Manchester City and Spain midfielder, and we got the answer when he lifted the 2024 Ballon d'Or at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on Monday.

While the award is decided by the votes of a panel of journalists from the top 100 ranked nations in the FIFA Men's Ranking, with the candidates drawn from a 30-player shortlist, the 2024 award came down to the claims of two players — Rodri, and Real Madrid and Brazil forward Vinícius Júnior (who did not travel to Paris after finding out that he would not win).

The race for the 2024 Ballon d'Or is football's version of the immovable object against the irresistible force — the defensive brilliance and awareness of deep-lying midfielder Rodri against the goals, pace and creativity of Vinícius. With Rodri ruled out for the rest of this season due to a cruciate ligament injury sustained last month, and Vinícius emphasising his claim with a stunning Champions League hat trick against Borussia Dortmund last week, the odds seemed stacked against Rodri in his attempt to become the first defensive player since Fabio Cannavaro won the Ballon d'Or in 2006 after leading Italy to World Cup glory.

Cannavaro's success was the first non-forward since Germany defender/midfielder Matthias Sammer won the award in 1996, again after helping his national team to success at Euro '96, while only Germany defender Franz Beckenbauer (1972 and 1976) and Russia goalkeeper Lev Yashin (1963) had previously denied attacking