While his great contemporary rival has never appeared to be one overly bothered with individual acclaim, such validation is what Cristiano Ronaldo craves.
The Portuguese superstar is nothing short of a phenom, a clutch-performer whose ability to shine when it matters most long saw him draw comparisons to the player who, in many eyes, is the greatest of all time.
While Lionel Messi’s recent ascent has thrust his legacy into a realm previously unforeseen, Ronaldo‘s career is trending in the opposite direction. However, that shouldn’t take away from what he achieved while he was dominating the European sphere. His clutch gene inspired Manchester United and Real Madrid to numerous titles and Ronaldo’s work has seen him garner plenty of individual acclaim.
However, his days as a leading Ballon d’Or contender are firmly in the rearview mirror.
No player has garnered more Ballon d’Or nominations than Ronaldo (18), with Messi earning his 16th in 2023. The Portuguese star, who is now plying his trade in the emerging Saudi Pro League after leaving Man Utd for a second time in 2022, earned his first nomination in 2004 after Sir Alex Ferguson plucked him out from Sporting CP to develop into the next superstar at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo was then a perennial figure in Ballon d’Or thinking for the next 15 years as he made the final shortlist year in and year out.
However, as his career enters its final act, Ronaldo has been removed from Ballon d’Or relevancy and in 2023, he didn’t make the 30-man shortlist at all after receiving no votes in 2022. It’s the first time since 2003 Ronaldo hasn’t made the final cut.
Messi and Ronaldo’s race for Ballon d’Or supremacy much reflected their battles on the pitch. For a while, it was a back-and-forth duel, but Messi has since pulled away. The Argentine is poised to win his eighth award in 2023, while Ronaldo is likely to end his career with five – the second-most of all time.
Ronaldo’s first triumph arrived a year before Messi’s in 2008. By this time, the rawness of his youth had evaporated and the winger was now a fully-fledged superstar in Manchester. Ronaldo scored in the 2008 Champions League final as United beat Premier League rivals Chelsea on penalties.
He then had to endure Messi win four-straight Ballons d’Or but responded with back-to-back victories of his own in 2013 and 2014. However, there were many complaints about his 2013 success, with the general consensus believing Franck Ribery should have won after inspiring Bayern Munich to the treble.
There were very few, however, who could dispute his win in 2016. Ronaldo won the award by the biggest margin in Ballon d’Or history after guiding an unfancied Portugal side to Euro 2016 glory and scoring the winning penalty in the Champions League final against Atletico Madrid. This is widely regarded as the best year of Ronaldo’s illustrious career.
He repeated his success in 2017 after yet another Champions League triumph, but that was the last Ballon d’Or Ronaldo has won to date. His demise in Europe and departure for the riches in the Gulf suggest no more awards of such prestige will enter his impressive collection.
|
Year |
Number of votes/points |
% of vote |
Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2004 |
11 |
N/A |
12th |
|
2005 |
2 |
N/A |
20th |
|
2006 |
5 |
N/A |
14th |
|
2007 |
277 |
N/A |
2nd |
|
2008 |
446 |
N/A |
1st |
|
2009 |
233 |
N/A |
2nd |
|
2010 |
N/A |
3.92 |
6th |
|
2011 |
N/A |
21.6 |
2nd |
|
2012 |
N/A |
23.68 |
2nd |
|
2013 |
1365 |
27.99 |
1st |
|
2014 |
N/A |
37.66 |
1st |
|
2015 |
N/A |
27.76 |
2nd |
|
2016 |
745 |
N/A |
1st |
|
2017 |
946 |
N/A |
1st |
|
2018 |
478 |
N/A |
2nd |
|
2019 |
476 |
N/A |
3rd |
|
2021 |
178 |
N/A |
6th |
|
2022 |
0 |
N/A |
20th |
It’d be wide of the mark to suggest Ronaldo sprung out of nowhere to win his first Ballon d’Or in 2008, but he hadn’t previously come close to winning the award before finishing second in 2007. In 2004, he finished 12th alongside Milos Baros and 20th next to Jamie Carragher in 2005 with just two votes. A 14th-place finish ensued in 2006.
He was beaten by Kaka to the 2007 award before getting his hands on the prize for the first time a year later with 446 voting points.
While his 2016 victory was his most emphatic as he earned more than double Messi’s points in second, he claimed the most points during his controversial 2013 win with 1365. Both Messi (second) and Ribery (third) notched over 1000 points that year.
Since 2017, when he won with 745 points, Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or performance has been on the decline. His points tallies were similar in 2018 and 2019 as he finished second and third respectively, but he dropped down to 6th in the voting in 2021 and earned no votes at all in 2022.
READ MORE ON THE 2023 BALLON D’OR NOMINATIONS AND PREDICTED RANKINGS
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