Raphinha Critiques Ballon d'Or Voting After Fifth Place

Raphinha, the Barcelona winger, publicly criticized the Ballon d'Or voting process after finishing fifth in the 2025 results. Despite delivering an excellent campaign with Barcelona, where he had a total of 56 goal involvements (34 goals and 22 assists in 57 appearances), he ranked behind Ousmane Dembélé, Lamine Yamal, Vitinha, and Mohamed Salah.

Raphinha expressed his concerns about the voting system, implying that the outcomes of football's prestigious individual award could be influenced by voters' personal relationships with players. He made these remarks during an interview on Cadena SER, where he admitted to feeling great recognition but doubted the fairness of the system.

Although he received the Toreski Award for Best Athlete of the Year afterward, Raphinha emphasized the importance of team accomplishments, noting that Barcelona had already secured the Supercopa de España and were in contention for the La Liga, Copa del Rey, and Champions League titles. He aims to help his team win trophies this season despite being sidelined due to injury.