After 17 years of waiting, Brazil finally stands at the top of the soccer world once more. Vinicius Junior, or simply Vini Jr., was elected as the best player on the planet at the 2024 FIFA The Best awards held this Tuesday in Doha. The last Brazilian to secure the trophy was Kaká, in 2007, when we were still a long way from imagining Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi would rise as the dominant forces of an era.
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A season for the history books
If there was still anyone who doubted Vinicius Junior, the 2023/24 season silenced the critics. He scored 24 goals in 39 games, carrying Real Madrid in the most decisive moments. It wasn't just about the numbers; it was about performances that changed the weight of his name.
In the final of the UEFA Champions League against Borussia Dortmund, Vini scored the sealing goal and secured yet another European title for the merengue club. Still, he didn't waste any more time. During the Spanish Super Cup, he destroyed arch-rival Barcelona with a hat-trick that even his opponents were in a stitch to see. Few in the world are as lethal whenever the game demands a protagonist.
The roots that forged the star
In the awarding ceremony of that prize, with emotive words, Vini Jr remembered his poor début in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro. The story is emotional, above all real: "It felt so far that it seemed impossible to achieve it. I was nothing but a boy playing with bare feet in São Gonçalo streets and closer to crime.".
Vini’s success is the perfect translation of talent born where soccer is at its purest: in the streets, improvising, with flip-flops as goalposts. He carries the weight and pride of being the boy who overcame the impossible but never forgot his roots. While thanking Flamengo, the club that discovered him, the forward made it clear that no one reaches the top alone.
I want to keep playing for a long time at Real Madrid, which is the greatest club in the world. Without Flamengo, who saw me in the fields and in the streets, I couldn't have gotten here." Simple and direct, the statement links the Vinicius from today to the dreamer from yesterday.
Return of Brazil to the elite of world soccer
The Best award puts Vini Jr in the select group of Brazilians who won the title of best player in the world: Romário, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Kaká, and now him. It is a respected list, with names that marked generations and lifted Brazilian soccer to the top.
This triumph is even greater for Vinicius' victory, at a time when Brazilian soccer is on the path to reconstruction. No Brazilian had won the top award of FIFA since Kaká in 2007; it seemed impossible to take that prize out of what became known as the "Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo era," and just when they began to slow down, other giants were born like Mbappé and Haaland. Vini Jr rose above these names and has become the most recognized Brazilian, making his nation proud.