Rodri
Spain holding midfielder who won the Golden Ball as the 2026 World Cup's best player.
Last refreshed: 20 July 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Spain's Golden Ball went to a holding midfielder, not a forward; what does that say about how they won?
Timeline for Rodri
Won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player
2026 FIFA World Cup: One goal conceded in eight matchesBackground
Rodri won the Golden Ball as the best player at the 2026 World Cup, the award going to a holding midfielder rather than a forward, after Spain beat Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the final at MetLife Stadium on 19 July. Spain's coach Luis de la Fuente nominated him for the Ballon d'Or immediately after the final.
Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante, Born 22 June 1996, plays as a defensive midfielder for Manchester City, whom he joined from Atletico Madrid in 2019. He scored the winning goal in City's 2023 Champions League final and won the Ballon d'Or in 2024, the first City player to do so. A serious knee injury kept him out for most of the 2024-25 season before he returned that May.
His award sits alongside Spain's tournament record: they won the World Cup having conceded once in eight matches, the fewest by any champion, and gave their individual honours to a goalkeeper, a defender and a holding midfielder rather than an attacker.