2024 Socrates award winner’s brother makes shocking claim on Vinicius: ‘They told him he was going to win Ballon d’Or’ | OneFootball

The Ballon d’Or ceremony of 2024, many believe, was the point where Vinicius Jr. ceased to be his usual self.

The Real Madrid superstar was poised to be named the best player on the planet on that night and was even set to travel to France to receive the award.

At the last moment, however, word broke out that Rodri had overtaken him as the winner, prompting an understanding breakdown for the player and causing Real Madrid to boycott the event completely.

Eventually, the Brazilian did not win and it was the now-Barcelona midfielder who was named the best in the world. Since that day, the Real Madrid forward has not consistently maintained his level and has not shone at the same level again.

To this day, however, there has been no clarity on whether the player was informed of having won the award or whether it was just media speculation at its job.

A shocking confession

Vinicius was the favorite for the award. (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)

Jenni Hermoso, Spain’s all-time women’s top scorer and five-time Pichichi winner, won the Socrates award in the same year.

As reported by Diario AS in a recent update, her brother recently came out on social media to make a massive claim.

In his shocking post, which he later deleted, Hermoso’s brother stated that Vinicius Jr. was told that he had won the Ballon d’Or ahead of the ceremony, only for everything to fall apart at the end.

“Look, I’m going to tell you a secret that I think I can tell now. I’ll try to summarise it. They invited us to their house for dinner. They told him that he was going to win the Ballon d’Or, and he had a place in his trophy cabinet ready for it,” he began on Vinicius.

Vinicius has never been the same since. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

He even went on to claim that there was an open discussion between his sister and Vinicius about the Brazilian’s award and how they initially planned to hand each other their accolades.

“My sister was going to receive an award for social merits, or something like that. They agreed that she would present him with the Ballon d’Or, and he would present her with her award. And we already know what happened afterwards,” he concluded.

While the veracity of these claims remains up in the air, Vinicius continues his quest for football’s top individual honour and has been nominated for the 2026 Ballon d’Or, alongside his Real Madrid teammates Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, and Marc Cucurella.