End of an era: Cristiano Ronaldo snubbed from the Ballon D’Or list after 19 years
Ronaldo made his debut into the Ballon D’Or list in 2004 when he was playing for Manchester United.
It is the end of an era as Cristiano Ronaldo was left out of the 30-man Ballon D’Or shortlist after 19 long years. He made his first cut into the shortlist back in 2004 whilst playing for Manchester United when he contested against the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Wayne Rooney and Andriy Shivchenko amongst many others. This simply shows the longevity the player possesses after having debuted 20 years back in 2003.
Ronaldo in his entire career has won 5 Ballon D’Or in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. Cristiano Ronaldo during the 2022/23 where he played briefly for Manchester United and then joined Al Nassr scored 17 goals and 4 assists for club and 7 goals and 2 assists for Portugal.
Ronaldo after being snubbed from the Ballon D’or said that “Whoever likes Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t have to hate Messi. They are both very good, they have changed the history of soccer. We are respected all over the world, that’s the most important thing”.
“Whoever likes Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t have to hate Messi. They are both very good, they have changed the history of soccer. We are respected all over the world, that’s the most important thing,” Cristiano Ronaldo added.
The nominees for the 2023 Ballon D’Or were released on Wednesday evening with France Football magazine revealing the nominees included on the list for this year’s award. Sixty players have found themselves in the running; 30 for the men’s award and 30 for the women’s award. Among the men’s players nominated are Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappé. Where as among the women’s players nominated are Aitana Bonmati, Sam Kerr, Millie Bright and Linda Caicedo.
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