Rodri’s Ballon d’Or – A Victory for Football – KTH

Rodrigo Hernández Cascante (Rodri) has won the 2024 Ballon d’Or, the most critically acclaimed and often highest regarded individual achievement in association football.

While there have been tremendous surprises in recent years, very few ever expected a Ballon d’Or winner to come in the form of Rodri in the modern-era.

For awards such as this one, it is often an offensive award given to a player with immense social media following and large campaigns from his club and nation.

These players are often prodigies at a young age, 100% devoted to football, and are often more popular than the teams and leagues they play in.

Yet, that all changed on a Parisian Monday night when the world’s most important midfielder was given the world’s most prestigious award.

Rodri entered the day with no personal social media, with little to no campaigns by his club, Manchester City, and his nation, Spain, and with nearly no fan fare or media attention compared to others up for the same award.

While many people are surely fans of Rodri, there is often this mystery as to how many. We cannot simply go to Instagram and check his follower count. We cannot attribute the viewership and attendance of Manchester City and Spain matches to Rodri. And, when it comes to jersey sales, Rodri is significantly behind many of his teammates.

In fact, if you ask many Spaniards and Citizens who the best players are on their respective squads, Rodri would rarely be the first person out of their mouths.

But, the man who almost quit football in his late teens has slowly and quietly proved many critics wrong.

The Madrid-born star was disregarded by Atlético Madrid during these years and would join Villarreal.

It was not until 18 years old that Rodri made his first senior appearance for the Villarreal B side in the Third Division.

In contrast, previous Ballon d’Or winners such as Lionel Messi and the #2 and #3 vote receivers in this year’s vote in Real Madrid’s and Brazil’s Vinícius Júnior and Real Madrid’s and England’s Jude Bellingham were already key players in the Spanish, German, and European First Levels for FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Borussia Dortmund respectively before 18.

Due to this uncertain nature, Rodri pursued academics living in campus housing and commuting to and from Villarreal to Jaume I University in the nearby provincial capital of  Castellón de la Plana.

He continued to work on football and school to earn a degree in business administration and management and a first team spot.

Rodri’s path would finally see his first-team debut at 19 where he got to play in Spain’s first level. For the next three seasons, the future Ballon d’Or winner excelled for “The Yellow Submarine” and in the class-room like an American student-athlete in NCAA sports.

Yet, Villarreal was no juggernaut. They play in a less than 24,000 seat stadium in a city of just over 50,000 people. The football club have no top level trophies and were often second fiddle to regional rivals Valencia CF. Furthermore, a student footballer was often unheard of at this level.

Suffice to say, while Rodri was no doubt already a star, he was not a Ballon d’Or star in the way his current compatriots were. He was not driving fancy cars, partying, scoring goals, and becoming the face of giant globally supported club.

Nevertheless, Rodri impressed coaches in Spain and made his first professional switch back to Atlético Madrid at age 21. This was Rodri’s first experience at a Ballon d’Or producing club.

It only took a season to catch the attention of Manchester City and Rodri would sign here at age 23.

Since then, the 28 year old has led Manchester City to significant results amassing monstrous team stats.

He has won 4 Premier League titles, a FA Cup, 2 League Cups, a pair of Community Shields, a UEFA Champions League, a UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup.

These last three titles created the most hype around Rodri because it was Rodri’s match winning goal in the 2023 UEFA Champions League Final in Instanbul that displayed the myth of the big game Rodri.

Rodri’s main position is a centre-defensive midfielder (CDM), a position with little goal scoring and assisting opportunities. While advance statistics do show their significance, the less in-depth statistics most people see hardly outline a CDM’s performance.

Outside of the match rating media pundits provide, most will hardly ever be able to tell if Rodri played well unless they watch the match and are a student of the game themselves. And most people are not this fortunate to either see all the matches or to have the analysis capabilities to determine for themselves.

Thus, Rodri’s match winning goal to give Manchester City its first European Championship trophy in a 1-0 win over Inter Milan gave Rodri the publicity needed to gain Ballon d’Or contention.

He was always valued, just not at the Messi or Ronaldo level or the levels of his more acclaimed club teammates like Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, to name two.

But now, people were beginning to see him at these levels for his position just as his famous manager Pep Guardiola had seen him.

Soon, people both retroactively and in future matches began to notice that in the big matches, Rodri often tallied important goal involvements, an unlikely scenario for a defensive midfielder.

Additionally, people began to highlight the most significant stat that showcased the team player mentality of Rodri: Manchester City’s record while he is on the pitch.

When Rodri starts, Manchester City almost always wins at over 74%, and nearly never loses. In the last 50 Premier League matches that Rodri has played, Manchester City has gone 40-10-0. Rodri attained a 74 match unbeaten streak as a starter that spanned to last season, and through his last 85 matches as a starter, Manchester City has won or tied every match, but one.

This had led to impressive individual achievements such as his 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League player of the season and his FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball (player of the tournament) in 2023.

These achievements were coupled with Manchester City winning their first European and World Championship, and winning their first European Super Cup. This brought Rodri into the Manchester City folklore because he was key in delivering the clubs’ first international first level trophies.

However, what spurred the greatest growth into Rodri’s Ballon d’Or resume was his brilliant displays for his national team in the 2022-2023 UEFA Nations League and 2024 UEFA European Championship.

Rodri was key into winning Spain the 2023 Nations League and this result combined with his FA Cup, Premier League, and Champions League trophies helped him achieve the 2023 Globe Soccer Awards Best Midfielder of the Year award.

Yet, this past summer elevated his status when he led Spain to win their third European Championship giving Rodri another individual award: European Championship Best Player.

All of a sudden, Rodri was arguably the best player for the best club team in the world and the best national team in Europe. A chance at the Ballon d’Or was no longer out of the question, especially once he would be invited to the exclusive event.

When put to the voters, Rodri’s name came out on top and signaled to the football world that being a humble person in a humbling position can still achieve you the top prize in a room full of billionaires.

His unorthodox route to this level creates hope and belief in footballers the world over showing that elite academic success does not negate elite development, that no social media does not equal no recruitment to top clubs or no elite awards, and that quiet demeanors are valued.

Perhaps, the best moment of the night was when Rodri got to re-tell his story in his native Castilian Spanish and in a very unpretentious black tuxedo and bowtie, crediting his family, nation, girlfriend, club, and God. It was not a speech to elevate or showcase himself, rather it was a speech to elevate and showcase those who elevated him, displaying the team player ethic that earned him this very award and his football teams their many victories.