The journalist who resigned from the Ballon d’Or jury: “I was wrong”

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Juha Kanerva, the Finnish journalist who voted for the Ballon d’Or, announced his “resignation” from the jury. He didn’t give a single point to Vinicius Junior.

“This is a technical error on my part, for which I take responsibility. I am resigning as a Ballon d’Or voter,” wrote the journalist from the Finnish publication Ilta-Sanomat on X, in response to a message showing that two other journalists – Bruno Porzio from El Salvador and Sheefeni Nikodemus from Namibia – had also featured a top 10 without Real Madrid’s Brazilian player.

The Ballon d’Or is awarded by 100 journalists representing the top 100 countries in the FIFA ranking. They must submit a ballot with ten names, according to the following scale: 15 points for first place, 12 for second place, 10 for third place, then 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

In its edition of November 9, France Football magazine, the organizer of the award, revealed the details of the journalists’ votes. 41 points separated Rodri, the winner, from Vinicius Junior, who took second place.

Juha Kanerva voted in order for: Rodri, Haaland, Bellingham, Kroos, Wirtz, Rice, Yamal, Saliba, Lookman, Carvajal.