Arsenal’s growing reputation on the global stage was underlined at this evening’s Ballon d’Or ceremony with four of Mikel Arteta’s players – Declan Rice, William Saliba, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard – finishing within seven places of each other in the rankings.
Club captain Odegaard led the quartet, finishing 19th – further recognition of his impressive performances for the Gunners over the last couple of seasons – while Bukayo Saka was two places behind in 21st. The England international scored important goals for club and country in 2024 as he finally got to test himself in the Champions League.
Not far behind were William Saliba (24th) and Declan Rice (26th) who were vital to Arsenal’s title challenge last season. Each man also made an impact at last summer’s European Championships with semi-finalists France and finalists England respectively.
Meanwhile, Spain international Mariona Caldentey, who joined the Arsenal Women from Barcelona in the summer, finished eighth in the Ballon d’Or Feminin rankings.
The glitzy ceremony in Paris was overshadowed before it even started when it was leaked that Real Madrid had refused to send any representatives after learning their striker Vinicius Jr had not won the main award. That decision proved all the more remarkable given Madrid won Men’s Team of the Year and Carlo Ancelotti was crowned Men’s Coach of the Year.
As for the other awards, aside from Lamine Yamal winning the Kopa Trophy for best young player, it felt like a who’s who of ex-Arsenal enemies on stage – Emi Martinez (Goalkeeper of the Year), Emma Hayes (Women’s Coach of the Year) and Harry Kane (Best Goalscorer) scooped gongs before Rodri was handed the Ballon d’Or itself. Aitana Bonmati took the women’s equivalent.
Meh.
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Ballon d’Or
29. Artem Dovbyk (Ukraine, Dnipro / Girona / Roma)
29. Mats Hummels (Germany, Borussia Dortmund)
28. Alejandro Grimaldo (Spain, Bayer Leverkusen)
27. Vitinha (Portugal, Paris Saint-Germain)
26. Declan Rice (England, Arsenal)
25. Cole Palmer (England, Chelsea)
24. William Saliba (France, Arsenal)
23. Rúben Dias (Portugal, Manchester City)
22. Antonio Rüdiger (Germany, Real Madrid)
21. Bukayo Saka (England, Arsenal)
20. Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Turkey, Inter)
19. Martin Ødegaard (Norway, Arsenal)
18. Emiliano Martínez (Argentina, Aston Villa)
17. Federico Valverde (Uruguay, Real Madrid)
16. Granit Xhaka (Switzerland, Bayer Leverkusen)
15. Nico Williams (Spain, Athletic Club)
14. Ademola Lookman (Nigeria, Atalanta)
13. Dani Olmo (Spain, Leipzig / Barcelona)
12. Florian Wirtz (Germany, Bayer Leverkusen)
11. Phil Foden (England, Manchester City)
10. Harry Kane (England, Bayern Munich)
9. Toni Kroos (Germany, Real Madrid)
8. Lamine Yamal (Spain, Barcelona)
7. Lautaro Martínez (Argentina, Inter)
6. Kylian Mbappé (France, PSG / Real Madrid)
5. Erling Haaland (Norway, Manchester City)
4. Dani Carvajal (Spain, Real Madrid)
3. Jude Bellingham (England, Real Madrid)
2. Vinícius Júnior (Brazil, Real Madrid)
1. Rodri (Spain, Manchester City)
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Ballon d’Or Feminin
30. Grace Geyoro (France, Paris Saint-Germain)
29. Ewa Pajor (Poland, VfL Wolfsburg / Barcelona)
28. Lauren Hemp (England, Manchester City)
27. Manuela Giugliano (Italy, AS Roma)
26. Yui Hasegawa (Japan, Manchester City)
25. Sjoeke Nüsken (Germany, Chelsea)
24. Lea Schüller (Germany, Bayern Munich)
23. Tarciane (Brazil, Corinthians / Houston Dash)
22. Glódís Viggósdóttir (Iceland, Bayern Munich)
21. Mayra Ramírez (Colombia, Levante / Chelsea)
20. Lucy Bronze (England, Barcelona / Chelsea)
19. Giulia Gwinn (Germany, Bayern Munich)
18. Gabi Portilho (Brazil, Corinthians)
17. Alyssa Naeher (USA, Chicago Red Stars)
16. Tabitha Chawinga (Malawi, Paris Saint-Germain / Olympique Lyonnais)
15. Khadija Shaw (Jamaica, Manchester City)
14. Ada Hegerberg (Norway, Olympique Lyonnais)
13. Lauren James (England, Chelsea)
12. Barbra Banda (Zambia, Shanghai RCB / Orlando Pride)
11. Patricia Guijarro (Spain, Barcelona)
10. Alexia Putellas (Spain, Barcelona)
9. Trinity Rodman (USA, Washington Spirit)
8. Mariona Caldentey (Spain, Barcelona / Arsenal)
7. Marie-Antoinette Katoto (France, Paris Saint-Germain)
6. Mallory Swanson (USA, Chicago Red Stars)
5. Lindsey Horan (USA, Olympique Lyonnais)
4. Sophia Smith (USA, Portland Thorns)
3. Salma Paralluelo (Spain, Barcelona)
2. Caroline Graham Hansen (Norway, Barcelona)
1. Aitana Bonmatí (Spain, Barcelona)
Ballon d’or needs to be cancelled for good. Anything that involves journalists is flawed to start with. Same journalists told us Vini got it.
funny thing to say on a website featuring a lot of journalism (albeit fairly niche journalism)
I think that there’s a big difference between fan journalism and hack journalism.
Honestly I looked at the list and it seemed pretty much on point for a change. Would you argue any Arsenal player deserved to be significantly higher?
And “anything that involved journalists is flawed to begin with” I hope you just mean regarding the football/sports media? Or are you asking for a world without journalists in general? If so that’s a pretty insane take.
My issue is not English but it does not and cannot justifiably be ALL Spanish winners. No one can tell me that a player from the Netherlands or France is not among the top three in the world.
I share your views because there are times I wonder if journalists reporting on players and matches were watching the same game as I was. At the moment if Chelsea or Man city are involved then any form of fair and balanced reporting is out of the window,
Classy from Real Madrid. A strop of childish proportions.
It’s a strange approach for sure and they all seem to be doubling down which makes them look very petulant. I thought they were actively courting Rodri? Maybe since the ACL they think differently, because he must be thinking what a load of entitled fucks. No time for Rodri, for obvious reasons, but he has been brilliant for club and country and probably deserves the accolade. Vini JR was also brilliant for club, as were most Madrid players, hence the team award (which should be seen as more important than the individual one, for obvious reasons) but he came 2nd… Read more »
arsenal’s academy product and gooner emi martinez 18th in the general standings of the ballon d’or and winner of the best goalkeeper award (again). true arsenal fans are proud of you emi! coyg
Speak for yourself.
He speaks for all that is truth at Arsenal … apparently
somewhere in argentina a little guy playing football was spotted by arsenal, recognized as a talented player and brought to london, where he spent 11 years with us, being trained and educated by and with some of the most relevant people in our history. and he’s become the best keeper in the world (or at least the owns that trophy). you can dislike him for all the stupid reasons you want (you won’t find a good one, that’s for sure), but you can still be proud of the player we produced
I agree. It’s good that Martinez has had a good career since leaving us.
Ranking football players regardless of position or profile is a totally pointless exercise. It’s football’s equivalent of the Grammys or Oscars, which also just serve as a way for us to constantly argue about our subjective likes/dislikes. I hate it particularly because it gives no sense of scale. There might be a chasm between two players but in a simple ranking they’ll be right there next to each other. I always prefer rankings when they are shown as a score on a continuum. 3rd might be a few points behind second but fifth might be 20 points off 4th. It’s… Read more »
Ranking players on a continuum would mean there’s a difference between a player scoring 3.14 points and pi points. I think it’s hard to distinguish at that level.
To be honest I think it was very generous to list our players so highly – they won nothing. At the end of the day The Ballon D’or should be for winners and not for also rans…
Wow grape.. an award show made up of 11 City players and 11 Madrid players + Guardiola & Ancelotti…
That’s literally not what it’s for though. It’s designed to recognise the best individual achievements, independent of what team they may play for. it’s a flawed concept and I don’t like it but you really should fnd something else to project your negativity onto.
Don’t worry – Me2 is a spud
Ademola Lookman? Lamine Yamal? Better than Ode and Saka? Behave yourself.
Xhaka at number 16. Good to see him get recognition
Can make quite a good team out of that list.
just missing Ben White to make it perfect
And Gabriel
Xhaka on 16th place is wild , but I love it!
It’s nice to see some of our guys and gals get some recognition, and on a completely and utterly unrelated note, fuck Roy Keane.
I haven’t looked it up, but I’m pretty sure that a current Arsenal player was fairly recently much higher on that list: Jorginho.
My problem with this fixed award is that, historically, the ultimate winners will only be Spanish born or based players, male or female.
As much as i rate Hemp there was never any chance she would win while someone Spanish was on the list.
Wow, Xhaka is in front of all of the Arsenal players.
Quite interesting to me that A LOT of the players above Saka I wouldn’t sign for our team.
Also the behaviour of Madrid is just incredible to me that they could lack that much class
Madrid are whining babies.
How did Lautaro Martinez not break the top 3 with the year he’s had? I’d love to have a striker like him in our squad.