Real Madrid’s forward Cristiano Ronaldo is continuing his sweep of the most prestigious individual soccer awards in the world. After taking The Best FIFA Men’s Player award in October, Ronaldo has now won prestigious Ballon d’Or, given to the best soccer player in the world by France Football magazine. This is Ronaldo’s second consecutive and fifth overall Ballon d’Or, matching him with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi as the most-awarded soccer player. He was the overall favorite for winning the award, especially after helping Real Madrid win La Liga, Champions League, and FIFA Club World Cup trophies last year.
Ronaldo received the award at a ceremony held in Paris.
“I’m very happy. To get this prize in Paris is a great experience.” – said Ronaldo in his acceptance speech. “It’s marvelous. It’s a great moment of my career. It’s something I wish I have every year. We had a marvelous year. I was the [top] goal scorer of the Champions League, so I want to thank my teammates. They were important for me. And also thanks, everybody who helped me to be in great form during the season.“
Lionel Messi took the second place in the voting, while Paris Saint Germain’s Neymar finished in the third place. The voting for the award was conducted by a global panel of journalists. This was the seventh straight year that Ronaldo and Messi finish on one of the top two places in the voting. Also, the pair has won all the Ballon d’Or awards among themselves since 2007, when Kaka won the award.
You can check out the top 10 ranked players in the voting for Ballon d’Or below.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal)
2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina)
3. Neymar (Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain/Brazil)
4. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus/Italy)
5. Luka Modric (Real Madrid/Croatia)
6. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid/Spain)
7. Kylian Mbappe (Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain/France)
8. N’Golo Kante (Chelsea/France)
9. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich/Poland)
10. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur/England)
