Cristiano Ronaldo 2017: five and counting
Published on 29 October 2026
Cristiano Ronaldo's 2017 was the year he reached five Ballon d'Or awards and did it as the leader of a Real Madrid team that won LaLiga and the Champions League in the same season. It was also the year his family grew by three children in five months. This article tells the football story first, then the personal story, and keeps the Ballon d'Or detail brief, because that award has its own full history elsewhere on this site.
The promise is straightforward: a complete, dated account of Ronaldo's 2017, from the Cardiff final in June to the Paris ceremony in December, with every major claim tied to a reported date.
LaLiga: the title Madrid had waited for
Real Madrid won the LaLiga title in May 2017, their first league title since 2012 and the 33rd in the club's history. Ronaldo scored 25 goals in LaLiga that season, a lower league tally than in his most prolific years, but the timing of his goals mattered more than the total. Madrid's campaign was built on depth and on Ronaldo being rested and then unleashed for the decisive matches, a pattern that defined the whole season.
That league title is the part of 2017 most easily undervalued now. Madrid had won the Champions League in 2014 and 2016 without winning LaLiga, and the double had eluded them since 1958. Winning the league restored the sense that this was a complete team, not just a cup team, and it gave the Champions League triumph that followed a domestic foundation. For the club's wider history, see our history of Real Madrid.
Cardiff: two goals in the final
On 3 June 2017, Real Madrid beat Juventus 4-1 in the Champions League final in Cardiff, completing the LaLiga and European Cup double for the first time since 1958. Ronaldo scored twice, and his contribution across the knockout rounds was the real story of the run: he scored ten goals in four multi-goal games in the knockout stage, with hat-tricks against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals and Atlético Madrid in the semi-finals, before his brace in the final.
That knockout run is why 2017, rather than a higher-scoring league season, became a Ballon d'Or year. Ronaldo had not been Madrid's most prolific league scorer that season, but when the Champions League reached its decisive rounds, he scored in bursts that settled ties before they could become contests. The final itself followed the same pattern: Madrid were level at half-time and then pulled away, with Ronaldo's second goal helping to break Juventus's resistance.
The individual awards: FIFA Best, UEFA Best, Ballon d'Or
The individual honours followed in sequence. In August 2017, Ronaldo was named UEFA's Best Player in Europe for the 2016-17 season, his third win of that award. In October 2017, he was named FIFA's Best Men's Player at the ceremony at the London Palladium, ahead of Lionel Messi and Neymar. Then, on 7 December 2017, he won his fifth Ballon d'Or at a ceremony at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, drawing level with Messi on five wins each.
The Ballon d'Or detail belongs here in brief only. Ronaldo's previous wins had come in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2016, so the 2017 award made him a five-time winner and the joint record holder at that moment. He thanked his Madrid team-mates on stage, saying the trophies won the previous season had helped him win the award. Readers who want the full award-by-award history should start with his first win in our Cristiano Ronaldo 2008 profile, and his career numbers are set out in our Cristiano Ronaldo career stats.
One more record closed out the year. In December 2017, Ronaldo became the first player to score in all six group games of a single Champions League campaign, a footnote that captured his consistency in the competition even in a season when his league numbers were down.
A family transformed in five months
Away from football, 2017 changed Ronaldo's life more than any other year of his career. His twins, Eva and Mateo, were born on 8 June 2017. He was with Portugal at the Confederations Cup in Russia at the time and announced their birth only after Portugal's penalty shoot-out defeat to Chile in the semi-final, a delay that underlined how strictly he separates his public and private lives.
Then, on 12 November 2017, his partner Georgina Rodríguez gave birth to their daughter Alana Martina. Ronaldo announced the birth himself on social media that day, writing that both mother and daughter were doing well and that the family were all very happy. In five months, he had gone from being a father of one to a father of four, while also captaining a team to a league and European double and collecting every major individual award in the sport. That combination, rather than any single trophy, is what makes 2017 such an unusual year to look back on.
The numbers behind the year
Ronaldo scored 42 goals in all competitions for Real Madrid in the 2016-17 season, and his 25 LaLiga goals were part of that total, not in addition to it. The distinction matters because 2017 is sometimes misremembered as a 50-goal year; it was not, and it did not need to be. His goals were concentrated where they decided trophies: ten in the Champions League knockout rounds, two in the final, and enough in the league run-in to carry Madrid to the title.
Portugal's year ended quietly by comparison. The Confederations Cup semi-final defeat to Chile on penalties, which preceded the twins' announcement, meant Ronaldo's international summer finished without a trophy, and he was then rested by Portugal for the November friendlies so he could be present for Alana's birth. The international story of 2017 is therefore a supporting one, and the main stage belonged to Madrid.
Why 2017 stands apart
Every great player has a year when the team honours and the individual honours arrive together, and for Ronaldo that year was 2017. The 2008 season gave him his first Ballon d'Or, and 2018 gave him the most famous goal of his career, covered in our Cristiano Ronaldo 2018 review, but neither combined a league title, a European Cup, a fifth Ballon d'Or and a transformed family life in the same calendar year. Later seasons added more goals, including his prolific later career at Al Nassr, covered in our Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr guide, but they did not repeat this particular combination.
If 2017 has a lesson, it is about timing. Ronaldo was 32, an age when most forwards are slowing down, yet he produced his most decisive European campaign and his most decorated individual year. The goals came in smaller totals than in 2011 or 2015, but they came exactly when trophies were decided, and that is the version of Ronaldo that the Ballon d'Or voters rewarded.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Cristiano Ronaldo win in 2017?
With Real Madrid, he won LaLiga and the Champions League in the 2016-17 season. Individually, he won UEFA's Best Player in Europe, FIFA's Best Men's Player and his fifth Ballon d'Or.
When did Ronaldo win his fifth Ballon d'Or?
On 7 December 2017, at a ceremony at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It drew him level with Lionel Messi on five Ballon d'Or wins, after previous wins in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2016.
How many goals did Ronaldo score in the 2017 Champions League final?
Two, as Real Madrid beat Juventus 4-1 in Cardiff on 3 June 2017. He had also scored hat-tricks against Bayern Munich and Atlético Madrid in the earlier knockout rounds.
When were Ronaldo's twins Eva and Mateo born?
On 8 June 2017. Ronaldo announced their birth after Portugal's Confederations Cup semi-final defeat to Chile on penalties.
When was Alana Martina born?
On 12 November 2017, to Ronaldo and his partner Georgina Rodríguez. Ronaldo announced the birth on social media the same day.
How many LaLiga goals did Ronaldo score in 2016-17?
25 LaLiga goals, as part of 42 goals in all competitions for Real Madrid that season.
