Cristiano Ronaldo is a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, winning four of those trophies as a Real Madrid player, but one of those wins wasn’t without a spot of controversy
During the 2010s, the Ballon d’Or was almost exclusively in the hands of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
The Argentina star took the award five times, with the Portugal frontman coming out on top on four occasions. Only Luka Modric, in 2018, broke up their dominance.
That’s not to say the award was without controversy during that period. Ronaldo’s win in 2013 came off a 55-goal season, the kind of numbers you might look at and think ‘sure, that makes sense,’ but one without any trophies save for the Copa del Rey.
It was an incredibly close call in the end, with Ronaldo picking up just 27.99 percent of the vote, narrowly ahead of Messi (24.72) and Franck Ribery (23.36). Ribery felt he was more deserving after a league, cup and Champions League treble with Bayern Munich (more on that later), but one of the voters went even further with his questioning of the outcome.
According to reports in January 2014 from Catalan outlet La Xarxa (via BT.dk), a number of international managers who voted for the award claimed official results differed from the votes they say they cast. These include Jorvan Vieira, at the time the manager of Kuwait, and Fiji boss Juan Carlos Buzzetti.
“I think there has been some fraud here, because I also voted for [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic,” Vieira said after he was said to have cast votes for Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo. There has been no indication in the years since that any fraud took place, but Buzzetti was another to point to inconsistencies, suggesting the Fijian captain’s votes might have been mistakenly published in his name.
“I voted for Cristiano, Messi and Ribery,” Buzzetti said. “I have not voted for [Robert] Lewandowski in any way, he is not on the same level as the other three. Could it be my captain who voted like that?”
Albania manager Gianni De Biasi also claimed: “I gave five points to Ronaldo, three to Messi and one to Ibrahimovic. I did not give five to Ibrahimovic. This is bulls**t and lies.”
Ronaldo would end up retaining his award the following year, this time after helping Real Madrid win the Champions League in 2013/14 and – on a personal level – adding another 51 goals in just 47 appearances. In relation to the 2013 award, though, RIbery made his case very strongly.
“I have won everything with the team and individually,” Ribery told German media in January 2014. “Ronaldo won nothing. I’m not sad, but it hurts the heart. Do not get me wrong, I am proud to have been there. I feel I deserved this title. There are so many politics.
“When I see the top XI that was chosen [for FIFA’s team of the year] – there are only three Bayern players there. This is madness! [Thomas] Muller must be there, [David] Alaba, [Bastian] Schweinsteiger, [Arjen] Robben.
“We won five titles, made history. Who has done that before? I’m sure, if Barcelona and Madrid stood in the Champions League final, the team would consist only of players of Real and Barca.”
The 2025 Ballon d’Or looks like it could be another close-run thing. It was a tight contest last year, with Manchester City star Rodri pipping Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior as the pair finished clear of the chasing pack.
Paris Saint-Germain star Ousmane Dembele is most people’s favourite this time around, but he faces plenty of competition. Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal is second-favourite with most bookmakers, while Yamal’s team-mate Raphinha and Premier League winner Mohamed Salah are among the others in contention.
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