Vinícius Júnior and his Real Madrid teammates will not travel to Paris for the Ballon d’Or ceremony on Monday, sources told ESPN, as they believe Manchester City midfielder Rodri will receive the award.

Vinicius, 24, was one of the leading contenders to win the 2024 men’s prize after leading Madrid to a LaLiga and Champions League double last season.

Sources told ESPN that the Brazil international and his fellow Madrid nominees – Jude Bellingham, Dani Carvajal, Kylian Mbappé, Antonio Rüdiger, Federico Valverde, as well as best goalkeeper nominee Andriy Lunin, Kopa Trophy nominee Arda Güler, and Carlo Ancelotti, nominated for best coach, would not attend the event, organized by France Football magazine in partnership with UEFA.

One club source thinks it is “unfair” and “a shame” that Vinicius would not win the prize. Not attending the ceremony is a protest in the form of not traveling to avoid boycotting what another club source sees as ‘a historic robbery’.

Vinícius scored 15 goals in LaLiga last season, as well as six in the Champions League, including in Madrid’s victory over Bayern Munich in the semi-finals and in the final against Borussia Dortmund.

The feeling in Madrid in recent weeks was that the forward was likely to claim the accolade.

“I think he will win,” Ancelotti said last week.

Vinícius would be the first Brazilian to win the men’s Ballon d’Or since Kaká in 2007.

The 2023 Ballon d’Or was won by Lionel Messi – his eighth – while Madrid’s Karim Benzema took home the award in 2022.

Vinicius scored a second-half hat-trick in Madrid’s 5-2 Champions League comeback against Dortmund last week, before featuring in the disappointing 4-0 defeat to Barcelona. Classic on Saturday.

In the summer he scored twice for Brazil in the Copa America – both goals coming in a 4-1 win over Paraguay – but struggled in the tournament, being knocked out by Uruguay in the quarter-finals.

Rodri was a key figure in City’s Premier League title in 2023/24 and went on to play for Spain in the build-up to their Euro 2024 triumph.