This achievement became historic due to several factors that the Champion decided to share with you.
The last time a Spanish footballer won this award was back in 1960 when the legendary Barcelona midfielder Luis Suárez claimed the title, surpassing Real Madrid's Ferenc Puskás and Hamburg's Uwe Seeler.
Overall, Rodri became the third Spaniard to win this award; however, Alfredo Di Stéfano, who won it twice, was born and raised in Argentina, later playing in Colombia, and only moved to Madrid in 1953 at the age of 27, where he became a Real legend.
Moreover, the Spaniard is the first defensive midfielder in history to be awarded by France Football.
The last time a player from an English club won the "Ballon d'Or" was in 2008 when Cristiano Ronaldo received the award while playing for another Manchester club. Manchester City has become the fourth team from the "misty Albion" whose player has won the award. Previously, it was Blackpool (1 time), Manchester United (4), and Liverpool (1).
For the first time since 2007-2008, the Ballon d'Or was not won by a representative of La Liga for two consecutive years. Back then, Kaká from Milan and Ronaldo from Manchester United were the trophy holders, while last year Lionel Messi won his eighth title representing PSG and Inter Miami.
For English football, aside from Rodri's success, it was significant that Jude Bellingham made it into the top three. The Real midfielder became the first England player since 2005 to rank so high in the France Football standings, when Ronaldinho outperformed Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard.
Meanwhile, Vinicius became the first Brazilian since Neymar to enter the top 3 and the first since Kaká to be among the top two, although the Milan midfielder still won his award then.
Ukrainian national team forward Artem Dovbik, who currently plays for the Italian Roma, ranked 29th in the voting and became the first Ukrainian nominated for the Ballon d'Or since 2006. In total, only 15 representatives from Ukraine have contended for the award:
Throughout history, only 3 Ukrainians have received the Ballon d'Or: Oleg Blokhin (1975), Ihor Belanov (1986), and Andriy Shevchenko (2004).
Andriy Lunin's performance last season was also recognized. The Ukrainian had an excellent streak in La Liga and the Champions League after Thibaut Courtois' injury, which allowed him to enter the top three goalkeepers in the world. The Yashin trophy has been awarded since 2019. Besides Martínez, previous winners include Alisson, Gianluigi Donnarumma, and Thibaut Courtois.
The Yashin trophy is named after the legendary Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin – the 1963 Ballon d'Or winner and the only goalkeeper to have ever won that award.