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Ballon d'Or: Juror Removed After Ignoring Top Five Finalists

In 2018, a Ballon d'Or jury member submitted a vote without any of the five actual finalists, naming Neymar, Ramos, and Alisson instead of Modric and Ronaldo. He was not reappointed.

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Ballon d'Or: Juror Removed After Ignoring Top Five Finalists
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A Ballon d’Or juror was removed after submitting a vote without a single member of the top five in the final ranking, reveals Pascal Ferré, former editor of France Football, in his book La face cachée du Ballon d’Or published by Albin Michel.

The incident dates back to the 2018 edition, won by Luka Modric ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi. The representative from Saint Kitts and Nevis had instead named Neymar Jr, Sergio Ramos, Luis Suarez, Alisson Becker and Sergio Agüero in his top five. No overlap with the official ranking. “A (epi)phenomenon, incapable afterwards of justifying his odd choice,” writes Ferré, himself a jury member for seven years.

The sanction was immediate: according to the former magazine editor, this juror “will obviously not be reappointed to his position.” Ferré clarifies that the goal is not to control votes, but to “preserve at all costs genuine reliability.” He also mentions pressure received from journalists seeking to challenge the legitimacy of a sitting juror while offering their own services.

This historical reminder comes as the 2026 Ballon d’Or was decided “by a very narrow margin” between Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappé, according to Vincent Garcia, editor-in-chief of France Football. The gap between the two would be smaller than the 41 points that separated Rodri from Vinicius Jr in 2024. Details of the votes from the 100 jury members are to be released in the coming hours.

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