Cristiano Ronaldo Wins Ballon d’Or All-Time Category
Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d’Or All-Time category for his 2008 victory in the poll. Fans judged that triumph the most important in the history of the award, ranking it above Argentine Lionel Messi’s 2012 win.
Although Cristiano Ronaldo was not among the nominees for the 2026 Ballon d’Or, which went to Harry Kane last Monday, the 41-year-old forward has another achievement to celebrate.
Starting this season, the organizers of the award introduced a new category. It is called “BOAT,” short for Ballon d’Or of All Time. The aim was to name the greatest Ballon d’Or win in history among players who have won it multiple times.
Fans could take part in an online vote to choose which win in the history of the prestigious trophy they consider the most valuable. The choice fell on the Portuguese player’s 2008 victory. CR7 beat his longtime rival Messi, whose 2012 win received less support.
In all, a list of 32 specific cases was prepared (pairings of a player with the year the award was won). Besides the Portuguese and the Argentine, the list included Brazilian Ronaldo (R9), Dutchmen Marco van Basten and Johan Cruyff, Frenchman Michel Platini, Germans Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Franz Beckenbauer, Englishman Kevin Keegan and Spaniard Alfredo Di Stefano. Casting a vote cost one euro, and participants had a chance to win two tickets to the next Ballon d’Or ceremony.
According to the daily Le Parisien, it was also possible to cast more than one vote. The organizers revealed that 5,009 people voted multiple times, and 44 of them voted between 10 and 26 times. The figures suggest that Cristiano Ronaldo’s army of fans, extremely active on social media, mobilized en masse to honor their idol, symbolically declaring him the greatest Ballon d’Or winner in history.
The player for Saudi club Al-Nassr, who has won the trophy five times, three fewer than record-holder Messi, first received the award in 2008. That came after a season in which he won the Champions League for the first time in his career with Manchester United, scoring 42 goals in 49 matches. (PAP)
