Which Brazilian player won the Ballon d’Or? Vinicius hopes to join Pele, Ronaldo and other greats

Vinicius Junior A sensational hat-trick allowed Borussia Dortmund to qualify for the UEFA Champions League emphasized the undeniable merits of the Brazilian striker in the Golden Ball.

Victory over the Bundesliga giants will not have a direct impact on Monday’s ceremony in Paris as votes were cast according to players’ performances in the 2023/24 season.

Vinicius gained his leader status thanks to his exceptional performances at real Madrid last season they became champions of Spain and Europe.

The 24-year-old’s decisive brace away to Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final set the stage for Madrid’s dramatic progress in the second leg before he scored the decisive goal against Dortmund at Wembley.

If Viney Jr wins football’s most prestigious individual prize, which luminaries from his football-mad homeland will he join on the honor roll?

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Which Brazilian player won the Ballon d’Or?

Vinicius Junior will become the fifth Brazilian to lift the trophy if he beats teammate Jude Bellingham and Manchester City’s Rodri, who are expected to join him on the podium.

Ronaldo became the first Brazilian winner in 1997. when he became famous as the youngest Ballon d’Or winner.

About Fenomeno received his second Ballon d’Or in 2002 after winning the World Cup with the Seleção. Ronaldo was playing for Real Madrid at the time and Vinicius became the second Brazilian to win a match at the Santiago Bernabeu.

KakaMilan’s triumph in 2007, which immediately preceded the era of dominance by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, was one of the reasons why Madrid decided to bring him to the Spanish capital.

By this point, two heroes on the other side of the Clasico divide had been recognized as the best players in the world thanks to their performances for Barcelona – Rivaldo in 1999 and Ronaldinho in 2005.

Did Pele win the Ballon d’Or?

Officially no. The man considered by many to be the greatest player of all time never took home the Ballon d’Or.

Essentially, this was because France Football did not reveal its criteria to make the award global until 1995, when the prize was won by AC Milan’s Liberian sensation George Weah. Prior to Weah’s success, only European players were eligible to participate.

In 2016, the French publication conducted an “international reassessment” of the Ballon d’Or to find out which international stars could have won the trophy during its European years.

France Football decided that Pelé would have won seven times: in 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964 and 1970.

Did Neymar win the Ballon d’Or?

If Vinicius wins, he will become the first current Brazil player to win the Ballon d’Or, as Neymar has never achieved it. Now 32 and playing for Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League, he will probably never make it.

The generously gifted forward has been on the podium twice, finishing third in 2015 and 2017.

He left Barcelona last year, partly to pursue his Ballon d’Or ambitions, but untimely injuries, as well as the failure of PSG and Brazil to pave the way to Champions League and World Cup glory respectively, undermined his claims.