Rodrigo Hernández Cascante (Rodri) won the Ballon d’Or in 2024, the most critically acclaimed individual achievement and often the highest individual achievement in association football.

While there have been tremendous surprises in recent years, few ever expected a Ballon d’Or winner to come in the form of Rodri in the modern era.

For awards like this, it is often an offensive award given to a player with a huge following in social media and big campaigns by his club and nation.

These players are often prodigies at a young age, 100% dedicated to football, and are often more popular than the teams and leagues they play in.

However, that all changed on Monday night in Paris when the world’s most important midfielder was awarded the world’s most prestigious award.

Rodri entered the day with no personal social media, with little or no campaigning from his club, Manchester City, and his nation, Spain, and with almost no fan fare or media attention compared to others for the same award.

While many people are definitely fans of Rodri, there is often this mystery about how many. We can’t just go on Instagram and check his follower count. We cannot attribute the viewership and attendance of the Manchester City and Spain matches to Rodri. And, when it comes to shirt sales, Rodri is behind many of his peers.

In fact, if you ask many Spaniards and Citizens who are the best players in their respective squads, Rodri is rarely the first person to come out of their mouth.

But, the man who almost quit football in his late teens has slowly and quietly proved many critics wrong.

The Madrid-born star was overlooked by Atlético Madrid over the years and was set to join Villarreal.

It was only at the age of 18 that Rodri made his first senior appearance with the Villarreal B team in the Third Division.

In contrast, previous Ballon d’Or winners like Lionel Messi and #2 and #3 vote recipients in this year’s voting in Real Madrid and Vinícius Júnior of Brazil and Jude Bellingham of Real Madrid and England have already been key players in the Spanish, German and European First Tier for FC Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid, and Borussia Dortmund respectively before.

Because of this uncertain nature, Rodri followed academics living in on-campus housing and commuting to and from Villarreal to Jaume I University in the nearby provincial capital of Castellón de la Plana.

He continued to work on football and school to gain a degree in business administration and management and a place in the first team.

Rodri’s path will finally see his debut in the first team at the age of 19 where he has come to play in the first level of Spain. For the next three seasons, the future Ballon d’Or winner excelled for “The Yellow Submarine” and in the classroom as an All-American student-athlete in NCAA sports.

However, Villarreal was no juggernaut. They play in a stadium of less than 24,000 seats in a town of just over 50,000 people. The football club has no top-flight trophies and has often played second fiddle to regional rivals Valencia CF. Furthermore, student football was often unheard of at this level.

Suffice it to say, while Rodri was undoubtedly already a star, he wasn’t a Ballon d’Or star like his current compatriots were. He wasn’t driving fancy cars, partying, scoring goals, and becoming the face of a giant globally supported club.

Despite this, Rodri impressed the coaches in Spain and made his first professional switch back to Atlético Madrid at the age of 21. This was Rodri’s first experience at a Ballon d’Or producing club.

It only took one season to attract the attention of Manchester City and Rodri would sign here at 23 years old.

Since then, the 28-year-old has led Manchester City to significant results that have amassed monstrous team stats.

He won 4 Premier League titles, FA Cup, 2 League Cups, a pair of Community Shields, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup.

These last three titles created the most hype around Rodri because it was Rodri’s match-winning goal in the 2023 UEFA Champions League Final in Istanbul that proved the legend of Rodri’s great game.

Rodri’s main position is central defensive midfielder (CDM), a position with few scoring and assist opportunities. While the forward statistics show their significance, the less in-depth statistics many people see hardly describe the performance of CDM.

Apart from the match rating media pundits provide, most will hardly ever be able to tell if Rodri played well unless they watch the game and are students of the game themselves. And many people are not this lucky to either see all the matches or to have the analysis capabilities to determine for themselves.

Thus, Rodri’s winning goal that gave Manchester City their first European Championship trophy in a 1-0 win over Inter Milan gave Rodri the publicity needed to win the Ball d’Or.

He has always been valued, just not at the level of Messi or Ronaldo or the levels of his more acclaimed club mates like Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, to name two.

But now, people started to see him at these levels for his position as his famous manager Pep Guardiola had seen him.

Soon, people both retroactively and in future games began to notice that in the big matches, Rodri often got involved in important goals, an unlikely scenario for a defensive midfielder.

In addition, people began to highlight the most significant stat that showed Rodri’s team player mentality: Manchester City’s record while on the pitch.

When Rodri starts, Manchester City almost always win by more than 74%, and almost never lose. In the last 50 Premier League matches that Rodri played, Manchester City went 40-10-0. Rodri achieved a 74-match unbeaten run as a starter which lasted until last season, and during his last 85 matches as a starter, Manchester City have won or drawn every match but one.

This led to impressive individual achievements such as the 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League player of the season and his FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball (player of the tournament) in 2023.

These achievements were alongside Manchester City winning their first European and World Championships, and winning their first European Super Cup. This brought Rodri into Manchester City folklore as he was key in delivering the clubs first international top tier trophies.

However, what spurred the biggest boost to Rodri’s Ballon d’Or debut was his brilliant performances for his national team in the 2022-2023 UEFA Nations League and the 2024 UEFA European Championship.

Rodri was key to Spain winning the 2023 Nations League and this result together with his FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League trophies helped him to get the 2023 Globe Soccer Awards Best Midfielder of the Year award.

However, this past summer he raised his status when he led Spain to win their third European Championship giving Rodri another individual award: the Best Player of the European Championship.

Suddenly, Rodri was arguably the best player for the best club team in the world and the best national team in Europe. A chance at the Ballon d’Or was no longer out of the question, especially once he was invited to the exclusive event.

When put to the voters, Rodri’s name came out on top and showed the world of football that being a humble person in a humble position can still get the highest prize in a room full of billionaires.

His unorthodox route to this level creates hope and belief in footballers around the world who show that elite academic success does not negate elite development, that no social media costs any recruitment to top clubs or any elite awards, and that quiet demeanor is valued.

Perhaps, the best moment of the night was when Rodri once again told his story in his native Castilian Spanish and in a black tuxedo and a very unpretentious bowtie, crediting his family, the nation, his girlfriend, the club, and God. It was not a speech to elevate or show himself, rather it was a speech to elevate and show those who elevated him, which showed the ethics of the team player that earned him this very award and his football teams many victories.