Cristiano Ronaldo's Ballon d'Or Wins
Published on 29 October 2026
Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or five times: in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017. Only Lionel Messi, with eight wins, has won football's most prestigious individual award more often. This guide takes each of Ronaldo's five wins in turn, explains the case for each one, gives the vote context where it can be verified, sets the Messi rivalry out in numbers, and answers the question every Ronaldo fan eventually asks: why has he not won a sixth?
What the Ballon d'Or is
The Ballon d'Or (French for "Golden Ball") is awarded annually by the magazine France Football to the best men's footballer in the world, as voted by a panel of journalists. It was first awarded in 1956, and for most of its history it was a journalists-only vote. Between 2010 and 2015, France Football partnered with FIFA and the award was known as the FIFA Ballon d'Or, with national-team captains and coaches voting alongside journalists. Since 2016, the award has returned to France Football alone, with journalists voting.
That history matters for Ronaldo's wins, because they span both eras. His 2008 win was a pure France Football award. His 2013 and 2014 wins came during the FIFA partnership. His 2016 and 2017 wins came after the split. The trophy is the same, but the electorate changed, and that is part of why some years were more controversial than others.
2008: the first win, at Manchester United
Ronaldo's first Ballon d'Or followed the greatest season of his young career. In 2007–08, playing for Manchester United, he scored 42 goals in all competitions, including 31 in the Premier League — winning the league's Golden Boot — and seven in the Champions League. United won both the Premier League and the Champions League, and Ronaldo scored in the final against Chelsea in Moscow, heading United in front before the match went to penalties, which United won.
He was 23 years old, the first Premier League player since Michael Owen in 2001 to win the award, and the first Portuguese winner since Luís Figo in 2000. The case was overwhelming: no other player combined that volume of goals with two major team trophies, and the award recognised a winger who had become a goalscorer without losing his flair. For the United story behind this win, see our Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United guide.
2013: the controversial win
Ronaldo's second Ballon d'Or, in 2013, was his most disputed. He had not won a major team trophy that calendar year with Real Madrid, while Franck Ribéry had won the treble — league, cup, and Champions League — with Bayern Munich, and Lionel Messi had continued to score at an extraordinary rate for Barcelona. Ronaldo's case was individual rather than collective: he was the top scorer in the calendar year, carried Portugal to the World Cup with a hat-trick in the play-off against Sweden, and produced a string of decisive performances in the Champions League.
The vote itself added to the controversy. FIFA extended the voting deadline that year, after the original closing date, a decision that was publicly criticised at the time and that fuelled debate about the process. Ronaldo won the award, and the result remains one of the most argued-over Ballon d'Or decisions of the modern era — a reminder that the award rewards a calendar year of individual performance, not simply the player on the best team.
2014: La Décima and the record season
The 2014 award was far less controversial. Ronaldo had led Real Madrid to La Décima — the club's tenth European Cup — in Lisbon, scoring a record 17 goals in that single Champions League campaign, a record that still stands. He also won the Copa del Rey with Madrid that year, scoring in the final against Barcelona, and he was Europe's top scorer across the calendar year. The combination of a record-breaking European campaign and a major team trophy made him the clear winner, and he collected the award in January 2015.
2016: the European double
Ronaldo's fourth Ballon d'Or followed a year in which he won the two biggest trophies available to him: the Champions League with Real Madrid and the European Championship with Portugal. Portugal's Euro 2016 victory in France was the country's first major tournament win, and although Ronaldo went off injured early in the final against France, he had scored three goals in the tournament and captained the side throughout. With Madrid, he scored the winning penalty in the Champions League final shootout against Atlético Madrid in Milan.
2016 was also the first year of the award's return to a journalists-only vote after the FIFA partnership ended, and Ronaldo won by a wide margin. The year confirmed a pattern in his Ballon d'Or story: his wins came in years when individual brilliance and team trophies arrived together, and 2016 was the most complete example of that combination.
2017: the fifth, and level with Messi
The fifth Ballon d'Or, in 2017, was the one that drew Ronaldo level with Messi at five wins each. Real Madrid won both LaLiga and the Champions League that year — the club's first league and European double since 1958 — and Ronaldo was the Champions League's top scorer for a fifth consecutive season, scoring twice in the final against Juventus in Cardiff and a hat-trick in the semi-final against Atlético Madrid. At the time, the five-each tie felt like a natural resting point for the greatest individual rivalry in the sport's history, and neither man knew that the tie would not last.
The Messi rivalry: five versus eight
The Ballon d'Or count is the simplest summary of the Messi–Ronaldo rivalry, and it now reads eight to five in Messi's favour. Messi's wins came in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2023. Ronaldo's came in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017. Between them, they won ten consecutive Ballon d'Or awards from 2008 to 2017, a duopoly that no other pair of players has ever approached.
| Player | Ballon d'Or wins | Winning years |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lionel Messi | 8 | 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2023 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 5 | 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 |
Messi pulled ahead with wins in 2019, 2021, and 2023, the last of them following Argentina's World Cup victory in Qatar in December 2022 — the one major trophy that has eluded Ronaldo at international level. The gap is now three, and it is the single biggest statistical argument in Messi's favour in the endless debate between their supporters. For a full head-to-head, see our Messi vs Cristiano comparison and our Cristiano Ronaldo profile.
Why he has not won one since 2017
Three things changed after 2017, and together they explain the drought.
First, the duopoly ended. Luka Modrić won the 2018 Ballon d'Or after reaching the World Cup final with Croatia and winning the Champions League with Real Madrid, becoming the first player other than Messi or Ronaldo to win the award since Kaká in 2007. Once the spell was broken, voters spread their support more widely, and no player has dominated the award since in the way the pair did.
Second, Ronaldo's circumstances changed. He left Real Madrid in 2018 for Juventus, where he won two Serie A titles but did not reach another Champions League final, and then moved to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia in 2023. The Ballon d'Or is voted on performances in the world's most watched competitions, and playing outside Europe's top five leagues has, in practice, removed him from contention, whatever his goalscoring numbers in Saudi Arabia.
Third, age and the calendar caught up with him. Ronaldo was 32 when he won his fifth Ballon d'Or, and the award has increasingly gone to younger players at the peak of their powers. He has remained a prolific scorer into his forties, but Ballon d'Or voters reward the player of the year, not the player of the era, and his years as the player of the year ended in 2017.
One distinction is worth making clearly, because it has caused confusion. In October 2026, France Football's fan vote for the greatest Ballon d'Or-winning season — the Ballon d'Or of All Time (B.O.A.T.) poll — ranked Ronaldo's 2008 campaign first, ahead of Messi's 2012 campaign. That was a fan poll about past seasons, not a new Ballon d'Or award, and it does not change the official count: Ronaldo has five Ballon d'Or wins, and Messi has eight.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Ballon d'Or awards has Cristiano Ronaldo won?
Five: in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017. Only Lionel Messi, with eight, has won more.
Which was Ronaldo's first Ballon d'Or?
His first came in 2008, after a season in which he scored 42 goals for Manchester United and won both the Premier League and the Champions League.
Why was Ronaldo's 2013 Ballon d'Or controversial?
Because he had not won a major team trophy that calendar year, while Franck Ribéry had won the treble with Bayern Munich. Ronaldo's case rested on individual goalscoring and carrying Portugal to the World Cup, and FIFA's decision to extend the voting deadline added to the debate.
Who has won more Ballon d'Or awards, Messi or Ronaldo?
Messi, with eight wins to Ronaldo's five. Messi's wins came in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2023.
Did Ronaldo win a sixth Ballon d'Or in the 2026 fan vote?
No. The 2026 Ballon d'Or of All Time (B.O.A.T.) poll was a fan vote ranking past Ballon d'Or-winning seasons, and Ronaldo's 2008 season finished first. It was not a new Ballon d'Or award, and the official count remains five for Ronaldo and eight for Messi.
Why has Ronaldo not won the Ballon d'Or since 2017?
The Messi–Ronaldo duopoly ended in 2018, Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Juventus and later Al Nassr, taking him outside the competitions Ballon d'Or voters weigh most heavily, and the award has since gone to younger players at their peak.
