The Ballon d’Or award has been given to exceptional football players annually since 1956, except for 2020 when it was not awarded due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2023 Ballon d’Or awards ceremony is over, with some of the world’s best footballers having stormed Paris to witness who would succeed 2020 winner Karim Benzema in lifting the Golden Ball.
In the end, it was Ballon d’Or number eight for Lionel Messi, who was rewarded for his World Cup heroics with Argentina.
On Thursday, November 2, 2023, a viral image featuring Manchester City’s star player, Kevin De Bruyne, with an accompanying caption garnered significant attention. The post claimed that De Bruyne had granted an interview to Sky Sports, during which he expressed his views on his absence at the Ballon d’Or ceremony.
The image, shared on the platform formerly known as Twitter, X, by user UzUmaki (@cristiano7TheG), on November 1, the tweet amassed a considerable audience with 1.5 million views, 6,034 reposts, 503 quotes, 28.8k likes, and 533 bookmarks. The caption in the post attributed the following statement to Kevin De Bruyne:
🗣️ Kevin De Bruyne: “This award has become a joke. They leaked the name of the winner a week ago. If the award were fair, then Haaland would have won it. He did everything he could have done. Still, he lost.”
“I didn’t want to be a part of the corruption. That’s why I didn’t go to the Ballon d’Or podium.”
The same content was also shared on Facebook via Football News, indicating the spread of these claims.
Additionally, a separate tweet on X, from user LM10 (@pessidog_owner), with 307k views, 517 reposts, 18 quotes, 4,803 likes, and 109 bookmarks, presented a similar narrative:
“BREAKING: Kevin De Bruyne finally shares his thoughts on why he refused to attend the Ballon d’Or ceremony🗣️:
🎙️A Journalist asked: ‘I noticed you achieved the 4th position in the Ballon d’Or ranking [2023], which is a fantastic accomplishment! I’m curious, is there a reason you couldn’t make it to the ceremony?’
🗣️Kevin De Bruyne: ‘That ceremony is a joke. They already announced the winner of the award a week before the ceremony, and it was not looking like the real owner.'”
THE FINDINGS
Findings show that the claim is FALSE
In an independent investigation conducted by the FACTCHECK247 Team, it was established that Sky Sports had not conducted an interview with Kevin De Bruyne in which he made the claimed statements.
Furthermore, our research revealed that Kevin De Bruyne’s official social media accounts were not active in the manner described in the claims.
The claims from user LM10 (@pessidog_owner) on the X platform, previously known as Twitter, and from user UzUmaki (@cristiano7TheG), raise questions regarding their credibility due to the existence of multiple usernames associated with their accounts.
Also, we conducted a thorough review of the Sky Sports News website and all their social media handles between October 31st and November 3rd, 2023. However, we could not find any relevant news, content, or mention of Kevin De Bruyne’s statements during this period.
Our findings conclude that the assertion that Kevin De Bruyne stated, “I didn’t want to be a part of the corruption. That’s why I didn’t go to the Ballon d’Or podium,” is FALSE.
THE VERDICT
The claim is not accurate; it is FALSE.
