A journalist has announced his resignation from the Ballon d'Or jury after accidentally leaving Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr out of his top 10 players.
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Juha Kanerva resigns from Ballon d'Or juryVinicius Jr left out of his top 10Vinicius tipped to win award for months priorFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
The Ballon d'Or ceremony, which sees a selection of journalists vote for the players they think have performed best over the season just gone, has seen controversy in the weeks since it took place. Manchester City midfielder Rodri took home the men's award, with Vinicius Junior finishing second, despite being tipped to win the top prize months prior after proving instrumental in Real Madrid's La Liga and Champions League successes.
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However, some journalists have come under fire for their votes, with a list of published of those who left Vinicius out of their top 10, despite him being clearly one of the best players in the world in 2023-24.
One of these was Finnish journalist Juha Kanerva, who was revealed to have ignored the Brazilian's credentials in favour of other players. Responding to the tweet, Kanerva admitted that the mistake was down to a technical error on his part and stated that he would resign from the Ballon d'Or jury.
WHAT KANERVA SAID
In response to a tweet naming him as a journalist who snubbed Vinicius, Kanerva was short and to the point: "My technical error. I will resign from the Ballon d'Or jury."
Two other journalists who also omitted the Real Madrid man from their top 10, Bruno Porzeo and Sheefeni Nikodemus, will be keeping a close eye on the situation.
Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR VINICIUS JR AND REAL MADRID?
Vinicius, who was not present for the Ballon d'Or ceremony after Real Madrid's dramatic boycott, has six goals in his last four matches and has recovered well from the obvious disappointment that came with his runner-up ranking.
He will try to take his sparkling form into Real Madrid's home game against Osasuna on Saturday.
