What if Cristiano Ronaldo Handed Out the Ballon d’Or? Evaluating His Criteria

Last week, Cristiano Ronaldo publicly stated that the Ballon d’Or should go to the player who not only stood out individually but also won the Champions League. His logic is clear: Europe’s top prize should decide the world's top player. But what if we applied that logic to every season of the 21st century?

To test Ronaldo’s theory, we examined each Ballon d’Or from 2000 to 2023. We considered the player with the most combined goals and assists for the Champions League-winning team as the “standout” candidate. The result? Only 9 out of 24 actual winners matched Cristiano’s preferred formula. In other words, if Ronaldo had always been the one handing out the award, history would look very different.

Take 2013, for example. That year, Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or after an incredible individual campaign, but Bayern Munich had just completed a historic treble, and Franck Ribéry was a standout in that side. Under Cristiano’s logic, he would have had to give the award to Ribéry — not keep it for himself. On the flip side, in 2018, Luka Modrić won the award largely due to his World Cup run, even though Ronaldo had carried Real Madrid to yet another Champions League title. In that case, Cristiano’s own criteria would have put him on top.

Perhaps the most controversial cases come when we consider who would have won instead of Lionel Messi. According to Ronaldo’s system, Messi would have missed out on several Ballons d’Or. In 2019, the award would’ve gone to Mohamed Salah, who had just helped Liverpool win the UCL. In 2021, it would’ve shockingly gone to Timo Werner, Chelsea’s most statistically productive attacker during their Champions League triumph. And in 2023, Erling Haaland’s incredible scoring season with Manchester City would have earned him the prize — not Messi, despite Leo’s World Cup glory.

Things get even messier when we go back to 2004 and 2005. In both years, the Champions League’s top goal contributors were tied — which means the Ballon d’Or would’ve had to be shared among two or even three players.

This all raises a deeper question: how much should team trophies define individual awards? The actual Ballon d’Or rules consider three main criteria — individual performance, team success, and fair play — and while the Champions League is clearly important, history shows that brilliance in domestic leagues, World Cups, and even Europa League campaigns can influence voters.

Since 1992, only a slight majority of Ballon d’Or winners (13 out of 24) also lifted the Champions League in the same year. That means nearly half of all winners didn’t match Cristiano’s rule — and yet they were still seen as the best players in the world.

Cristiano’s opinion reflects a desire for clarity and objectivity in football awards. But applying his method retroactively shows just how unpredictable the Ballon d’Or would become. It would deny trophies to icons like Messi and even Cristiano himself — and elevate names that few expected, like Werner or Salah.

The debate isn’t about whether winning the Champions League matters. It clearly does. But football is a game of nuance, and awards like the Ballon d’Or reflect more than just titles. They reflect brilliance — with or without the trophy in hand.

Published by Patrick Jane
14.06.2025