Over the years, the awards has generated a lot on controversy, largely due to its choices of winners, some of who never really deserved to win it
Let's check out some of the recent episodes
2010 - Milito wins the treble, scores 30 goals, scores in every final... not even in the top 30. Messi wins the Ballon D'or with 0 goals in the World Cup over Iniesta, Xavi and Sneijder because "international football doesn't decide the Ballon D'or winner".
2012 - Ronaldo scores 60 goals and leads Real Madrid to the record breaking La Liga title and Euro semifinals with Portugal. Messi wins it with 73 season goals, having only won the Copa Del Rey. So, "La Liga alone doesn't decide the Ballon D'or winner".
2013 - Now Ronaldo wins the Ballon D'or with 55 goals, even though Messi scored 60 goals and won La Liga and Ribery won treble with Bayern. This is probably the magazine making up for snubbing Ronaldo in the past.
2018 - One of Ronaldo's best seasons. Modrić wins it because of the World Cup. (Ballon D'or 2010 then???)
2019 - Van Dijk has arguably the greatest ever season by a CB, wins UCL. Messi wins it for winning La Liga alone. (Ballon D'or 2012 then???)
2020 - Lewandoski is the clear best player in the world, treble winner, historic season. Ballon D'or gets canceled for some reason (???).
2021 - Lewandowski is, again, the clear best player in the world. 48 goals and completes the sextuple. Messi wins it despite only winning the Copa Del Rey and scoring 38 goals. He also won the Copa America, a much smaller trophy than the World Cup. (Ballon D'or 2010 then???)
2023 - Haaland scores 52 goals, breaks every record and wins the treble with Man City. Messi wins the Ballon D'or only because of the World Cup, despite not doing anything noteworthy all season for PSG (Explain Ballon D'or 2010???). Rodri has the season of his life, finishes 5th.
2024 - Vinicius leads Real Madrid to La Liga and Champions League, scoring in semifinal and final. Rodri wins the Ballon D'or despite having a worse year than 2023 and not winning the Champions League.
Rodri is probably getting this Ballon D'or because he didn't get one in 2023, so it makes sense for the voters that he gets one now (even though Vinicius probably had more impact).
In a nutshell, The Ballon D'or REALLY doesn't matter. It's just another magazine award, and it can't be taken as seriously as some people do.