Vinícius Júnior, Real Madrid to skip Ballon d'Or awards - sources

Vinícius Júnior and his Real Madrid teammates will not travel to Paris for the Ballon d'Or ceremony on Monday, sources told ESPN, because they believe Manchester City midfielder  Rodri will receive the award.

Vinícius, 24, was a leading contender to win the 2024 men's prize after leading Madrid to a LaLiga and Champions League double last season.

Sources told ESPN that the Brazil international and his fellow Madrid nominees -- Jude Bellingham, Dani Carvajal, Kylian Mbappé, Antonio Rüdiger, Federico Valverde, as well as Andriy Lunin, nominated for best goalkeeper, Arda Güler, nominated for the Kopa Trophy, and Carlo Ancelotti, nominated for best coach -- would not be attending the event, organized by the magazine France Football, in collaboration with UEFA.

One club source considers it "unfair" and "a disgrace" that Vinícius would not win the award. Not attending the ceremony is a protest in the form of not travelling in order not to boycott what another club source considers "a historic robbery."

Vinícius scored 15 goals in LaLiga last season, as well as six in the Champions League, including in Madrid's semifinal win over Bayern Munich and in the final against Borussia Dortmund.

The feeling in Madrid in recent weeks had been that the forward was likely to claim the award.

"I think he'll win it," Ancelotti said last week.

Vinícius would have been the first Brazilian to win the men's Ballon d'Or since Kaká in 2007.

The 2023 Ballon d'Or was won by Lionel Messi -- his eighth -- while in 2022, Madrid's Karim Benzema was handed the prize.

Vinícius scored a second-half hat trick in Madrid's 5-2 Champions League comeback against Dortmund last week, before featuring in a disappointing 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in the Clásico on Saturday.

In the summer, he scored twice for Brazil in the Copa America -- both goals coming in a 4-1 win over Paraguay -- but struggled in the tournament overall, as they were eliminated by Uruguay in the quarterfinals.

Rodri was a key figure in City's 2023-24 Premier League title and then starred for Spain in their run to victory at Euro 2024.