Vinicius Junior's place in Ballon d'Or voting revealed

Real Madrid and the Ballon d'Or organizers remain at odds after what many saw as an unfair evaluation of Vinicius Junior last year. This time, the organizers have doubled down, handing the Brazilian an even harsher verdict.

Details: The Madrid star has just scraped into the lower half of this year’s voting, finishing 16th. Right beside Vinicius sits his Barcelona rival, Robert Lewandowski, who is making his ninth appearance in the poll.

Also in the mix are Napoli’s Scott McTominay and PSG’s Joao Neves, who finished 18th and 19th respectively. The 20th spot went to Lautaro Martinez, who recently featured in the Champions League final with Inter.

For the record: Vinicius’ Real Madrid teammate Jude Bellingham, who finished third last year, now finds himself in 23rd place. Even lower is last season’s world number five, Erling Haaland, who ended up ranked 26th out of 30. At the actual ceremony, Real Madrid will have almost no representatives in attendance.