Olivia Rodrigo targeted by outraged football fans

By James Farquharson

Image via Wikimedia Commons

In a bizarre turn of events, American singer/songwriter Olivia Rodrigo has found herself caught up in a football controversy following the 2024 Ballon D’or awards. 

Spain and Manchester City midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante, also known as ‘Rodri’, was crowned the world’s best player, winning his first Ballon D’or on 28 October. This news has been much to the dislike of many. 

Rodri after winning the Ballon D’or (By Franck Fife via Getty Images)

Following widespread disgust at Rodri being named the winner of the award instead of Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior, fans took to Instagram to slam the winner for “stealing” the award from Vinicius who was the front-runner leading up to the presentation. 

However, fans got mixed up when trying to contact the Spaniard and somehow ended up finding the wrong ‘Rodrigo’. They instead found a 21-year-old pop singer from America, who then was accused of “robbing” the award and was told she wasn’t worthy of football’s most valuable prize, which even she won’t disagree with. 

Comments left on Olivia Rodrigo’s latest Instagram post

The award, which started back in 1956, is given to the player with the most votes from 100 journalists, with one voter from each top-ranked nation. Journalists vote on who they think was the world's best player from the past year. 

The award has been dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who have won a combined 13 awards spanning over three decades. However, in this year's race, with the pair ageing and no longer competing at the highest level, it was time for a new winner. It was awarded to Rodri, who had a fantastic season and was a fan favourite in Manchester. 

The singer unsurprisingly hasn't responded to the comments and is staying well away from the drama, and we can't expect that to change soon. With her busy schedule touring and appearing on shows all around the world, it's no shock that she is ignoring a bunch of furious football fans who clearly haven't double checked the page that they are on.