Cristiano Ronaldo wins Ballon d’Or for fourth time

Real Madrid star was officially confirmed as 61st Ballon d’Or winner in a ceremony held in Paris.

Not many people were surprised by the name of the winner of the highest individual award in world football as Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed a more successful year than his opponents Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid). His successes in the shirt of Real Madrid (Champions League) and Portugal (Championship EURO 2016) in the last year were not overlooked and the Portuguese has picked up his fourth Ballon d’Or.



The winner of the 61st Golden Ball was decided solely by a panel of journalists, rather than by votes from footballers and coaches as was the case the previous years. The reason lies in the fact that France Football decided to end their partnership with FIFA. Ronaldo was not present during the awards ceremony for the Ballon d’Or this year as he traveled to Japan with Real Madrid for FIFA Club World Cup. However, in preparation for the ‘absence’ of Ronaldo at the award ceremony in Paris, leaderships made video recordings of speech in advance for CR7 last Friday.