The Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris sparkled on Monday night, September 22, 2025.
Football’s biggest names, from Aitana Bonmatí to Mohamed Salah, walked the red carpet, cameras flashing, the world’s attention fixed on who would be crowned the best in the game.
Yet, in the middle of all the glitz, one glaring absence became impossible to ignore: Real Madrid.
For the second year running, the most decorated club in European football staged a boycott of the Ballon d’Or ceremony.
No Vinícius Júnior, no Jude Bellingham, not even Kylian Mbappé, who had been among the favourites for the men’s award. Thibaut Courtois, nominated for the Yashin Trophy, was missing too.
Even the young prodigy Dean Huijsen, in the running for the Kopa Trophy, stayed away. Their absence spoke louder than any speech delivered that night.
The decision, as many close to the Bernabéu privately admit, was not the players’, it was Florentino Pérez’s.
At 78, the Madrid president has tightened his grip on every lever of power at the club.
Former employees, sponsors, and even Madrid insiders describe him as the sole voice behind such boycotts, guided not by footballing logic but by politics and paranoia.
Madrid staff still whisper about last year’s fiasco, when the club pulled out of the 2024 gala at the very last minute after learning none of their seven nominees would win.
Carlo Ancelotti missed his moment to collect the Johan Cruyff Award as best men’s coach, while nobody from the club was present to accept the Club of the Year trophy.
For some, the boycott reflects a “siege mentality” that Pérez has cultivated for decades.
Allies say he views football through the lens of enemies and allies, Madridistas and anti-Madridistas.
His fallouts with UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin over the failed Super League project still burn deep.
Inside the club, many believe last year’s Ballon d’Or votes, where Rodri beat both Bellingham and Vinícius, were influenced by Madrid’s ongoing war with UEFA.
Ironically, the Ballon d’Or was once a cornerstone of Pérez’s “galáctico” project. The arrivals of Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, and Owen were all tied to the prestige of the award.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s four golden balls in Madrid were paraded as proof of the club’s supremacy.
Today, however, the relationship has deteriorated to such an extent that the award is virtually nonexistent within Madrid’s official media ecosystem.
In Paris, football’s elite toasted new winners and celebrated the game’s brightest talents. In Madrid, the silence was deafening.
The boycott wasn’t just about trophies; it was a reminder of who truly runs Real Madrid.
