Ballon d’Or Winner, Rodri, Proud Graduate of Atlético Madrid, Villarreal CF’s Academies

The men’s Ballon d’Or was won by Rodri, the Spain national team and Manchester City midfielder midweek. It was also proud moment for Atlético de Madrid and Villarreal CF, whose academies helped developed Rodri as a youngster. 

Born in Madrid, Rodri was on Atlético de Madrid’s books between the ages of 11 and 16, before signing with Villarreal CF and debuting with the first team of El Submarino Amarillo at the age of 19. 

He later returned to Atleti, spending the 2018/19 season continuing his evolution under Diego Simeone in LALIGA EA SPORTS, before moving to England to work with Pep Guardiola.

With Rodri claiming this year’s prize, it means that every single Ballon d’Or winner since 2004 has played in LALIGA EA SPORTS at some point in their career. 

Ronaldinho, Fabio Cannavaro, Kaká, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Luka Modrić, Karim Benzema and Rodri have won, between them, every Ballon d’Or in the past two decades and they’ve all spent important parts of their careers in Spanish football’s top division. 

In fact, 16 of the 23 Ballon d’Or awards given out this century were won by a player who was on the books of a Spanish club at some point during the year of their victory. 

In the 2024 edition, five current LALIGA EA SPORTS players made the top 10, alongside the recently retired Toni Kroos. They were Vinícius (2nd), Jude Bellingham (3rd), Dani Carvajal (4th), Kylian Mbappé (6th), Lamine Yamal (8th), and Toni Kroos (9th).