Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2008 Ballon d’Or tops France Football’s all-time fan vote
Ronaldo’s first Ballon d’Or finished first in a paid public poll of past winners. France Football says the vote is separate from its annual award and carries no physical trophy.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2008 Ballon d’Or topped France Football’s Ballon d’Or of All Time (BOAT) public vote, whose result was announced on October 28. The poll asked fans to choose among past award-winning seasons; it did not confer another annual Ballon d’Or on the Portuguese forward. OneFootball and AS reported the result separately.
The result came two days after the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony, at which Harry Kane won the men’s award. That ceremony and its premature winner pages were covered in NewsJaws’ report on Kane’s win; the BOAT result is a separate vote announced afterward.
How Ronaldo’s 2008 award won the BOAT vote
OneFootball placed Lionel Messi’s 2012 Ballon d’Or behind Ronaldo’s 2008 award, followed by Ronaldo’s 2017 win. AS reported that awards won by Ronaldo and Messi occupied all ten leading positions. The accounts establish the winner, though the available ranking details do not justify a full ordering of every entry.
Operative Information Center reported that organizers judged entries by the significance of the winning season to each player’s career, rather than by how many Ballons d’Or the player had collected. Its list of eligible multiple winners included Messi, Ronaldo, Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Alfredo Di Stéfano and Franz Beckenbauer, among others. That criterion helps explain why the poll names a particular year of Ronaldo’s career rather than simply ranking players by their award totals.
Why BOAT is separate from the Ballon d’Or
AS reported that voting opened on October 1 and closed on October 27. Participation cost €1 per vote. OneFootball described BOAT as a public and fan vote, in contrast with the journalists’ vote for the traditional Ballon d’Or. The voting method matters when interpreting the result: it records the preferences of people who paid to take part in this poll.
France Football called BOAT ‘exclusively a public vote’ and said it was neither a physical trophy nor an official award presented at its ceremony, according to AS. The publication also distinguished it from the Super Ballon d’Or, a one-off award given to Alfredo Di Stéfano in 1989. Ronaldo’s BOAT win therefore identifies the leading entry in this fan poll, rather than a new trophy added to his five Ballons d’Or.
France Football launched BOAT on October 1 to mark 70 years since the first Ballon d’Or, awarded to Stanley Matthews in 1956, AS reported. Its anniversary format gave supporters a way to compare past winning seasons while the annual ceremony continued on its own track.
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Sources and context
- The all-time Ballon d'Or winner has been decidedYahoo Sports, reporting credited to OneFootball; English text identified as AI translation of the Spanish original
- Cristiano Ronaldo wins all-time Ballon d’Or rankingOperative Information Center (OMM Newsroom)
- BOAT live updates: winner, rankings and nominees | Messi and Ronaldo battle for the Ballon d’Or of All TimeAS USA (Diario AS), Roddy Cons
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.