Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante is the new Ballon d’Or. To the surprise of many and fully deserved, the Madrid midfielder, key to the recent successes of the Manchester City and of the Spanish team, he is already considered the best footballer in the world. This is attested to by an award with which, until todayonly one Spaniard had been recognized in the men’s category.
Was Luis Suarez Miramonteslegend of FC Barcelona and winner of Ballon d’Or in 1960. 64 years later, Rodri He succeeds the midfielder from A Coruña, second in the 1961 and 1964 editions and third in the 1965 edition, and achieves what they could not Raúl González Blanco, Xavi Hernández either Andres Iniestaamong others.
With honey on your lips
Don Andres came very close in 2010, when a superlative Leo Messi (with 22.65% of the votes) surpassed both him (17.36%) and Xavi (16.48%), which completed a Barça podium for the ages. Nine years earlier, in 2001, it was Raul who caressed a Ballon d’Or that ended up taking English Michael Owen, at that time in the Liverpool.
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The quota of Spaniards who were in the Top-3 candidates for the Ballon d’Or they take it Amancio Amaro (1964), Emilio Butragueño (1986 and 1987), Fernando Torres (2008), Xavi (2009 and 2010) and Iniesta (2012), third in the aforementioned editions.
This is how the Spanish footballers have fared in the Ballon d’Or:
Winner: Luis Suárez (1960) and Rodri (2024)
Second: Luis Suárez (1961 and 1964), Raúl (2001), and Iniesta (2010)
Third: Amaro (1964), Luis Suárez (1965), Butragueño (1986 and 1987), Torres (2008), Xavi (2009, 2010 and 2011) and Iniesta (2012).
