PA Media/dpa
London
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has defended the club’s decision not to attend the Ballon d’Or ceremony.
Neither manager Carlo Ancelotti nor any of Real’s players were present in Paris last month in protest at their forward Vinicius Junior missing out on the main award to Manchester City midfielder Rodri.
Speaking at the club’s General Assembly, Perez praised Rodri as a "great footballer”, adding "we love him”, but then hit out at the voting system.
"They’ve changed the voting system,” said Perez in comments reported by marca.com.
"It’s surprising that, given the football, there are countries in which journalists with less than a million inhabitants now have a vote.
"There are journalists that nobody knows and they have entered to vote this year. Without the votes of journalists from these countries like Uganda, Namibia, Albania and Finland, Vinicius would have won this Ballon d’Or.
"The system must change and they must be recognised people who risk their prestige with these votes. For all these reasons, we did not attend the Ballon d’Or gala.”
Perez also spoke bullishly about the controversial European Super League while criticising the new Champions League format, saying: "Nobody understands it.”
Following court rulings against UEFA and FIFA over the proposal, which swiftly hit the buffers when it was first announced in April 2021, Perez added: "Today I am more optimistic than ever. Breaking the monopoly of football has required a titanic effort, with pressures that would have brought down anyone, but not us.”