Namibian Journalist responds to Real Madrid President Florentino Perez – 'He feels we're inferior people'
11/26/2024 04:49 AM
Real Madrid President Florentino Perez launched into an impassioned tirade about why Vinicius Junior should have been the Ballon d'Or winner this year, with the Brazilian beaten out by Manchester City's Rodri Hernandez. Perez argued that journalists from Finland, Namibia, Albania and Uganda should not have a vote.
"If the journalists from Uganda, Albania, Namibia and Finland hadn't voted, Vinícius would've won the Ballon d'Or. Nobody even knows who they are," Perez laughed on stage in front of Real Madrid's delegate members. He received a round of applause for his statement.
Finnish journalist Juha Kanerva apologised for leaving the Brazilian out of his top 10 selections, and resigned from voting duties in the aftermath after significant online abuse from Real Madrid fans. However his Namibian counterpart Sheefeni Nicodemus has responded to Perez.
"Basically I suspect these are the words of someone who is frustrated," he told Cadena SER, as recounted by Relevo. "Mr. Perez feels that the people of my country and the other countries mentioned do not have a meaningful vote because we are inferior people. I would just like to know if I were from the major football nations and did not agree with his opinion, what would be his argument?"
Perez would also go on to insinuate that UEFA had something to do with the result, noting that it was the first year that they had co-organised the event with France Football, and the voting system had changed. The Real Madrid President signalled that under the previous system Vinicius would have won, but Relevo also highlight that this is not true.
The system used this year allowed journalists to vote for 10 players, giving them 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 point. Under that voting system Rodri managed 1,170 points, ahead of Vinicius' 1,129 points. Under the previous system, journalists awarded 5 players 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point, which would still have given a margin of 31 to Rodri, with the Spain midfielder earning 420 points, and Vinicius 389.
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