Early this month, the Real Madrid shooter Vinicius Junior was told that he will win the Ballon d’Or for his work in 2024. The ceremony isn’t until the end of October.

The 24-year-old had a great season and scored in the June Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund. He was the youngest player to score in two finals.

Vini Jr. scored both goals in the first leg of the semi-final, which took place away at Bayern Munich. He also set up Joselu late in the second leg to tie the game for Carlo Ancelotti’s team, who then went on to win and move on to the next round.

Before that, Vini Jr. won La Liga with Real Madrid, scoring 15 goals to help the team get 95 points and finish 10 points ahead of Barcelona in second place.

Even though Brazil was eliminated from the Copa America after losing to Uruguay in the quarterfinals while Vini Jr. was banned, that doesn’t seem to have taken away from their great club season.

According to the Spanish newspaper Marca, the winger has already been told that he will win the Ballon d’Or at the ceremony on October 28. To celebrate, his sponsors, Nike, plan to change the look of their shop in Madrid.

Who will Vini Jr. beat to win the Ballon d’Or?

These new details will be bad news for people like Rodri and Jude Bellingham, who were also strong favorites to win the award.

Rodri was a big reason why Manchester City won their record-setting fourth straight Premier League title last season. He would also go on to play for Spain in their Euro 2024 winning team.

Dani Carvajal, who is also Spanish, had the most successful season in terms of awards. He won La Liga and the Champions League with Real Madrid, scoring in the final at Wembley, and then he and Rodri won Euro 2024 together.

He was also talked about during Bellingham’s first season at the Bernabeu. The English midfielder scored 23 goals in his first season in Madrid after moving there from Dortmund.

But if England had won Euro 2024, Bellingham might have won the award. That’s because of the amazing overhead kick he made against Slovakia in the last 16 that kept Scotland in the game.