Despite the secrecy surrounding this year's winner, it has emerged when Real Madrid superstar Vinicius Junior actually found out he would not be getting his hands on the 2024 Ballon d'Or.
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France Football chiefs have insisted no club nor player was informed of the final Ballon d'Or ranking before the official announcement at the ceremony in Paris on Monday.
The organisers of the event said they refused to divulge information to Real representatives ahead of time amid suspicions Vinicius Junior was, to the club's surprise, not going to claim the prestigious individual award.
In the weeks and days leading up to the event, everyone at Los Blancos believed the Brazilian would be called on to the stage to collect the Ballon d'Or, but it was Manchester City's Rodri instead who won the main prize.
The Athletic reports the belief inside the club was so strong that around 30 of Vinicius' companions were scheduled to travel to France with him to attend the ceremony.
Some of his guests reportedly flew out from Brazil with the intention to celebrate his would-be achievement, while an after-party was also planned.
Nike, his boot sponsor, were also said to have prepared "special boots to celebrate an eventual victory" and organised an event in Madrid to commemorate his triumph.
However, those plans became increasingly uncertain when the 24-year-old was told on Sunday morning that he would not be named this year's winner.
While it is unclear as to where the information came from, club sources state they Real found out "because Manchester City knew Rodri would be the winner", although this has been disputed by other sources close to the situation.
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Real eventually decided to boycott the awards ceremony altogether, with no officials in attendance to accept their Club of the Year prize.
By Kurt Buckerfield
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