Manchester City fans had been looking forward to tonight’s Ballon d’Or awards ceremony.
The club had several representatives for various categories, and the expectation was that this would be a great night for the club.
Rodri, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland and Ruben Dias were all up for the Men’s Ballon d’Or award.
Pep Guardiola was in contention to win Men’s Coach of the Year.
Savinho had been nominated for the Kopa Trophy following a terrific campaign on loan at Girona last season.
Khadija Shaw, Lauren Hemp and Yui Hasegawa were also up for the Women’s Ballon d’Or award.
And Manchester City were, of course, nominated for the Men’s Club of the Year.
Here’s how the evening panned out from a Manchester City perspective.
Men’s Ballon d’Or – Rodri wins as Foden, Haaland and Dias learn their rankings
Man City fans are rejoicing tonight with Rodri winning the 2024 Ballon d’Or.
The Spaniard has been acknowledged with the greatest individual prize on offer in football, and has now cemented himself as one of the greats of the game.
He pipped Vinicius Junior to the award, with the Real Madrid winger and all his associates not even turning up to the event.
Haaland – who came runner-up to Lionel Messi last year – came in fifth place.
Foden – who was the Premier League Player of the Season for 2023/24 – came a very respectable 11th.
And Dias, who has been such a rock at the back for City for so long now, came 25th.
Men’s Coach of the Year – Pep Guardiola misses out as Carlo Ancelotti wins
It had been reported ahead of the ceremony that Guardiola was going to miss out to Luis de la Fuente for the Men’s Coach of the Year award.
He guided Spain to glory at Euro 2024 in the summer.
Pep oversaw another fantastic campaign at City, winning three trophies including a fourth straight Premier League title.
But he was perhaps always up against it to win since he is arguably held to higher standards. Xabi Alonso was also shortlisted for his fine work at Bayer Leverkusen and was perhaps slightly unlucky not to win.
In the end, though, it was actually Carlo Ancelotti who won the award. The Italian guided Real Madrid to the league and Champions League double.
Kopa Trophy – Lamine Yamal wins as Man City gem Savinho comes 4th
Savinho was among the nominees for the Kopa Trophy tonight, which recognises the game’s best young talent.
He had a superb season with Girona in 2023/24 and the campaign he had convinced City to snap him up for £33 million.
There was probably never a realistic chance he would win this award though, with Lamine Yamal having had such a stunning rise over the last year for both club and country.
The official rankings saw Savinho finish in fourth place, behind Yamal, Arda Guler and Kobbie Mainoo.
Women’s Ballon d’Or – Lauren Hemp, Khadija Shaw and Yui Hasegawa learn their rankings
Man City Women had two representatives for the Ballon d’Or tonight.
Yui Hasegawa came in 26th, forward Lauren Hemp came in 28th place, while striker Khadija Shaw – who hit 21 goals in the WSL last season in just 18 appearances – came in 15th.
Men’s Club of the Year – Real Madrid win over Man City
After winning for the last two years running, Manchester City were beaten tonight to the Men’s Club of the Year award by Real Madrid.
The Spanish giants won the league title last season and also the Champions League, having knocked City out via a penalty shootout at the quarter-final stage.
City fans will likely not mind this too much. Many have got their wish tonight and that was for Rodri to beat Vinicius to the main prize.
