He may not be the most talented footballer, but he is among the most intelligent, tactically flawless, without him in the midfield, there would hardly be any great successes of Manchester City and Spain...
Rodrigo Hernandez Caskante, better known as Rodri, is the best footballer in the world for the 2023/24 season. The Golden Ball of "France Football" from the ceremony in Paris ended up in the hands of a brilliant mind who won the Premier League, the European Championship, the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
Back in 1960, Spain last won the Ballon d'Or, it was the famous "Architect from Galicia" Luis Suarez, 64 years later the most prestigious individual award was brought to the Pyrenees by an "architect" from two teams that are currently playing the most beautiful football on the planet.
At the same time, Rodri secured a place among City's immortals, as he brought the club from the east of Manchester their first Ballon d'Or in history.
The football public and the media were convinced that this revelation would end up in the hands of Vinicius Junior, but Rodri's versatility this time defeated the spells of Real's Brazilian.
In the end, Real boycotted the ceremony in the Šatla Theater because of everything, and Rodri celebrated in front of three players of the "royal club" - Vinicius, Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal.
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After defending the colors of Villarreal and Atlético Madrid in his homeland, Rodri arrived at Manchester City in 2019 for the club's record transfer fee of £62,8 million at the time.
At first, many claimed that it was Pep Guardiola's mistake, but very quickly Rodri became exactly what the Ittihad machinery was missing the most.
Under his command in the midfield, City won four Premier League cups in a row (from 2021 to 2024), the unforgettable triple crown in 2023, and before the Ballon d'Or he made history for the "Citizens" by his goal deciding the Champions League final and for the first time took the club from Manchester to the top of Europe.
In the last season, for which he received the Golden Ball, he played as many as 63 games for club and national team and lost only one - in the FA Cup final against Manchester United.
With the "Citizens" he was once again the best in England, and won the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup, while during the summer he was one of the key players for Spain on the way to the European throne - even in the final against England in which he played only 45 minutes before injury.
From the middle of 2023, he was declared the best player in as many as four competitions in which he played - the Champions League, the League of Nations, the WC for clubs (2023) and the European Championship (2024).
Golden Ball for Aitana as well, Jamal the best young player, Dibu the goalkeeper
The golden ball for women was won by Aitana Bonmati, a great soccer player from the midfield of Barcelona, and other prestigious awards were also awarded during the ceremony in the Teatro Shatle.
Barcelona's super talent Lamin Jamal was declared the best young footballer.
He celebrated in front of Arda Guler and Kobi Mainu.
A guy who is only 17 years old is already one of the main players of Barça and the Spanish national team that won the European Championship this summer and hardly had any competition for the "Copa trophy".
The award for the best goalkeeper did not change hands - once again it is the phenomenal Emiliano Dibu Martines.
The goalkeeper of Argentina and Aston Villa has the "Lav Jašin" award in his hands again.
Real did not come, but it is the best club, and Ancelotti is the coach
In the end, the trophy for the best club went to Real Madrid, who decided to boycott the ceremony in Paris because of Vinisuyus, while in the women's category, Barcelona was unrivaled.
And Real's head coach Carlo Ancelotti was declared the coach of the year, of course he did not receive the award named after the legendary Johan Cruyff, while the same women's trophy went to Chelsea's Emma Hayes.
The award named after the great Gerd Müller for the best scorer was shared by Harry Kane from Bayern and Kylian Mbappe from Real.
The "Socrates Award", which is awarded for humanitarian efforts, was awarded to Spanish soccer player Jenny Hermoso.
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