Real Madrid Breaks Ballon d'Or Silence with Four Nominations
For a year, Real Madrid treated the Ballon d'Or as if it had been erased from football’s map. No posts. No congratulations. Not even a token graphic for their own players.
Now, the silence is over.
The Spanish giants have stepped back into the spotlight of France Football’s award, publicly celebrating the inclusion of four of their players – Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Jr., Jude Bellingham and Marc Cucurella – among the 30 nominees for the 2026 Ballon d’Or.
The club marked the moment with announcements across their social media channels and on their official website, a clear break from the hardline stance they took last year.
From fury to freeze-out
This thaw only makes sense when you rewind to 2024.
That year, the Ballon d’Or went to Rodri. Inside Valdebebas, many believed it should have gone to Vinicius Jr., the electric Brazilian who had driven Real Madrid to a La Liga and Champions League double in the 2023/24 campaign.
The result did not just disappoint Madrid. It infuriated them.
Convinced that Vinicius had been denied his moment, the club reacted with a full-scale protest. Their delegation, already aware the winger would not be crowned, chose not to attend the ceremony at all. What should have been a celebration turned into a boycott.
The anger spilled into the public domain on 28 October 2024, when Real Madrid used their in-house channel, RMTV, to fire a blunt broadside at the award. The message was short and brutal: “Right now, the Ballon d’Or no longer exists.”
Actions followed words.
The club scrapped nearly five hours of special Ballon d’Or programming that had been scheduled on RMTV. And when the 30 nominees were announced that year, Real Madrid did not publish a single line about them or the eventual winner, PSG’s Ousmane Dembélé.
For the first time in modern memory, the club that has built so much of its identity around individual and collective glory simply turned its back on the game’s most famous individual prize.
A calculated return
That is what makes this week’s shift so striking.
With the 2026 shortlist revealed, Real Madrid moved quickly to highlight their presence in the race. Four names. Four pillars of the current project.
“Mbappé, Vini Jr., Bellingham and Cucurella are among the 30 candidates for the 2026 Ballon d’Or, awarded by France Football. The nominees have been selected for their performances during the 2025/26 season,” the club announced.
No fireworks. No emotional statement. Just a firm, public acknowledgment that the trophy they had declared dead is once again part of their narrative.
The contrast with last year is stark. Then, silence was a weapon. Now, visibility is a signal.
Message to the dressing room – and to Paris
This is not just about a list of names. It is about posture.
By stepping back into the Ballon d’Or conversation, Real Madrid send a message in several directions at once. To their players, they are again aligning themselves with the individual honours that so often define legacies. To the wider football world, they are showing that the rift with the award’s organisers has cooled, at least publicly.
For Mbappé, in his ongoing chase for the one major individual prize that has eluded him, the club’s backing carries weight. For Vinicius, still living with the sense of injustice from 2024, it marks a subtle recognition that his fight for the trophy continues with the club firmly behind him, not outside the room.
Bellingham’s inclusion underlines his rapid ascent to the game’s elite, while Cucurella’s presence on the list reflects how far his performances in the 2025/26 season have pushed him into the global conversation.
Real Madrid have not forgotten 2024. They have not rewritten history. But with four of their own in the running for 2026, they have decided that the Ballon d’Or, once declared non-existent, is again worth engaging with.
The boycott is over. The battle for the Golden Orb, at least in Madrid, is very much back on.
