Football’s finest will descend on Paris for this year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony, but there’s likely to be one glaring omission.
Leading publication France Football will reveal who has won the most coveted individual award in the game on Monday, with Vinicius Junior and Rodri the two favourites to win.
Neither has won the honour before, but for one man, they will enter an exclusive club that boasts the likes of Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer, to name four.
All previous winners of the award are permitted to attend the lavish ceremony each year.
However, France Football editor Vincent Garcia hinted Cristiano Ronaldo is a likely absentee thanks to a controversial snub.
“Winners have the right to come back to all future ceremonies but they don’t all come, some are very upset with us,” Garcia told The Times.
“I don’t know for certain Cristiano is. I don’t talk to him directly, but I know for example that former winners vote for the Kopa Trophy – for the best young player – and Cristiano didn’t vote last year and he didn’t vote this year.”
Ronaldo, who moved to Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr in December 2022, was left off the 30-man Ballon d’Or shortlist last year for the first time since 2003.
The Portuguese superstar is a five-time recipient of the award but has not won it since 2017.
This year also marks the first time in over two decades neither Ronaldo or longtime rival Messi, who now plies his trade for Inter Miami in the MLS, has made the 30-man shortlist.
Had either have made the cut this year, Garcia believed ‘they would have got some votes’.
There’s been just two occasions since 2008 when either Ronaldo or Messi did not win the Ballon d’Or, with the two exceptions being Luka Modric in 2018 and Karim Benzema in 2022.
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Messi also holds three more Ballon d’Ors than Ronaldo, with his last triumph coming in 2023.
However, Ronaldo has shown his disdain for Messi’s extra awards via small acts on social media.
The Portuguese icon liked an Instagram post from a Madrid-based reporter in 2023 that claimed Messi has eight Ballon d’Ors but ‘should have had five’.
No Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo but who will win the Ballon d’Or this year between the likes of Vinicius Jr, Rodri, Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe
Ronaldo also commented underneath the post with four laughing emojis.
The 39-year-old also commented ‘factos’ – translated to facts in English – on another social media post which appeared to question the legitimacy of Messi’s 2021 Ballon d’Or triumph.
Despite his thinly-veiled swipes on social media, Ronaldo said in 2023 he no longer shares a rivalry with Messi and had ‘respect’ for what the Argentinian maestro had accomplished.
“Those who like Cristiano Ronaldo don’t have to hate Messi,” Ronaldo said.
“I don’t see the rivalry like that. The rivalry is gone.
“We shared the stage for 15 years and ended up being, I’m not saying friends, but we are professional colleagues and we respect each other.”
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