Cristiano Ronaldo is not on the 2026 Ballon d’Or shortlist. At 41, he plays his club football in Saudi Arabia, and he isn’t one of the 30 men who can win the award at Monday’s 70th-anniversary ceremony in London. He has still become one of the biggest stories of Ballon d’Or week.
Cristiano Ronaldo is far ahead in an official fan vote to name the “Ballon d’Or Of All Time.” He scored again for Al Nassr on Friday. And he is still in a public standoff with Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus that could decide whether he plays for his country again.
Here is the latest on each storyline, three days before the gala.
What Is the Ballon d’Or B.O.A.T. Vote?
To mark seventy years of the award, the Ballon d’Or organisers launched the B.O.A.T., short for “Ballon d’Or Of All Time.” It is a public poll meant to settle, at least for fans, which Ballon d’Or-winning season was the greatest ever.
Only players who won the award at least twice are on the ballot. That leaves ten names: Alfredo Di Stéfano, Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Kevin Keegan, Ronaldo Nazário, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Fans don’t vote for a player as a whole. Each winning year is a separate entry, so a player with several trophies is effectively competing against his own past seasons. That matters a lot in the Messi-versus-Cristiano Ronaldo debate. Messi won the Ballon d’Or a record eight times, so his support is split across eight options. Cristiano Ronaldo, a five-time winner, has five.
The vote is also very different from how the real award is decided. Each vote costs one euro, and fans can vote as many times as they like. The official Ballon d’Or is decided by an international panel of journalists. Reports covering the poll describe the B.O.A.T. as “a paid public fan vote, not the traditional jury process used to decide the annual Ballon d’Or.”
Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2008 Season Is Running Away With It
Provisional standings show Cristiano Ronaldo far ahead, though the exact numbers vary depending on when they were published. Figures reported by Marca put him at about 62% of the total vote.
Standings published on October 20 and cited by Yahoo Sports had his 2008 entry alone at 75%. That same snapshot showed Messi’s 2012 season second on 9% and Ronaldo’s own 2017 season third on 6%, which pushed Messi’s World Cup-winning 2023 year out of the top three.
The 2008 entry is Ronaldo’s Manchester United peak. He scored 42 goals in all competitions that season, including 31 in the Premier League to win the European Golden Shoe and eight in the Champions League. United won both the league and the Champions League, the double that made Cristiano Ronaldo the world’s best player for the first time.
Messi’s best-performing entry, 2012, is just as remarkable on paper. He scored a record 91 goals for Barcelona and Argentina in a single calendar year and won his fourth straight Ballon d’Or after 2009, 2010 and 2011. But with his vote spread across eight seasons, no single Messi year has come close to Ronaldo’s 2008 total. For more on the Argentine’s fanbase, read our story on the viral Messi fan at the 2026 World Cup.
Fans should be careful about reading too much into this. A poll where people can pay to vote as often as they like mostly measures how motivated a fanbase is. Cristiano Ronaldo has one of the largest and most organised online followings in world sport, and the size of his lead reflects that.
Is the B.O.A.T. the New Super Ballon d’Or?
As the poll took off on social media, so did claims that Cristiano Ronaldo was about to be named the next winner of the “Super Ballon d’Or.” On October 22 the official Ballon d’Or website responded directly. It said the two are “two entirely distinct initiatives with no connection between them.”
The site said the B.O.A.T. “is exclusively a public vote designed to celebrate the passion of our supporters.” It is not a physical trophy and won’t be presented at Monday’s ceremony.
The Super Ballon d’Or was a real trophy awarded by France Football just once, in December 1989. A jury of experts, former winners and readers picked Alfredo Di Stéfano ahead of Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini. It has never been awarded again, and the organisers say no date has been set for a second edition.
So whatever the final numbers, Cristiano Ronaldo will not be getting a new trophy for his collection. According to the official site, the B.O.A.T. result will be announced on October 28, two days after the gala. Reports say voting closes the night before, though outlets have given slightly different closing times.
Ballon d’Or 2026: Date, Venue and How to Watch
The 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony is on Monday, October 26, at the London Palladium. It starts at 8pm GMT (9pm CET). This is the award’s 70th edition and the first time the ceremony has been held in London.
The organisers chose the city to honour Stanley Matthews, the Blackpool and England winger who won the very first Ballon d’Or in 1956. Thierry Henry and sports presenter Kate Scott will host, and the show will stream free worldwide on DAZN and the official Ballon d’Or website.
This year’s eligibility period runs from August 3, 2025, to July 19, 2026, which covers the club season and the summer’s World Cup. Journalists from the world’s top 100 FIFA-ranked nations each rank ten players from the 30-man shortlist. They judge three criteria: individual performance, team achievements, and class and fair play.
Paris Saint-Germain dominate the men’s list with ten nominees, including last year’s winner, Ousmane Dembélé, and midfielders Vitinha and Fabián Ruiz, who both scored in PSG’s 4-2 win over Barcelona this week. Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Arsenal follow. Messi, now at Inter Miami, is on the list. Cristiano Ronaldo is not.
Harry Kane vs. Lamine Yamal: The Two-Horse Race
Bookmakers think the race is down to two players. As of October 22, William Hill had Harry Kane as a heavy 1/3 favourite. He scored 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern Munich, the most of anyone in Europe, as Bayern won the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal.
Kane also scored six times while leading England to the World Cup semi-finals. He was 7/4 when the shortlist came out on September 8, and the market has moved steadily his way since.
His main rival is Lamine Yamal at 2/1. Yamal was decisive again and again as Spain won the World Cup, and a win would make him the youngest Ballon d’Or winner ever.
Kylian Mbappé is a distant third at 16/1. That’s despite an outstanding season in which he won the World Cup Golden Boot and became the all-time top scorer at World Cups with 22 goals. He is still in form for Real Madrid, as he showed in their 4-1 win over Leipzig. Michael Olise has also drawn support after a big year for club and country.
Messi’s odds have swung around a lot. He shortened from 50/1 to 4/1 during the World Cup before drifting out again. Even as an outsider, his presence at 39 gives him a chance to extend his record, even if a long-shot one. Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence from the list means the GOAT argument on Monday will play out through the B.O.A.T. poll rather than the trophy itself.
Cristiano Ronaldo Scores Again for Al Nassr
Cristiano Ronaldo has kept scoring in Saudi Arabia. On Friday, October 23, he scored in the 49th minute of Al Nassr’s 3-1 win over Al Faisaly in the Saudi Pro League.
Abdullah Al-Hamdan opened the scoring in the fourth minute, Theo Bongonda pulled one back for Al Faisaly, and Angelo Gabriel sealed it late. Ronaldo also hit the crossbar with a powerful first-half shot.
According to a match report by Ummid, Ronaldo was named Man of the Match but gave the award to Al-Hamdan. The same report says the goal was the 982nd of his career, leaving him 18 short of 1,000, a milestone no player has reached in official competition. The win kept Al Nassr second in the table on 25 points, one behind leaders Al Hilal.
It is his latest goal in a busy month. On October 12, in the AFC Champions League Elite, he scored on the turn against Uzbekistan’s Neftchi in a 3-1 win at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh.
Kickoff was delayed by about an hour after Saudi Civil Defence issued a safety warning over Houthi missile threats. After the final whistle, a fan handed him a green Saudi scarf, and he waved it to the crowd before wearing it as he left the pitch.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal: The Standoff Explained
Cristiano Ronaldo’s international future is much less settled. During the September international window, he was an unused substitute in Portugal’s 2-1 win away to Norway on September 27.
He says Jorge Jesus, his former coach at Al Nassr, had promised him 30 minutes and then didn’t bring him on. On September 30 he left the squad’s camp in Copenhagen on the eve of a Nations League match against Denmark.
In a statement on October 7, reported by Sky Sports, Ronaldo apologised for not applauding the travelling fans after the Norway match. He said “the coach had broken his word to me,” which Jesus denies, and that the coach’s later press conference contradicted their private agreement.
He also revealed that he had written a letter retiring from international football after the World Cup but was persuaded to stay by Federation president Pedro Proença. He asked to be punished without leniency. “I am not just any player. I am the team captain, and that is an aggravating factor,” he said. He added: “I will be available, as I have always been until today, to compete and win for our national team.”
On October 19 the Portuguese Football Federation suspended him for 30 days and fined him €255. The ban is backdated to September 30, so most of it has already been served. The federation reportedly considered his admission of fault, his previous record and his contribution to the national team as mitigating factors.
What Happens Next With Jorge Jesus?
The suspension is nearly over, but the relationship is not fixed. Saudi outlet Al-Wiam Sports reported this week that Jesus told Proença he would accept Cristiano Ronaldo back only if certain conditions were met, and that Ronaldo has so far rejected them.
Those conditions haven’t been confirmed publicly. Proença is reportedly trying to arrange a face-to-face meeting between the two. Jesus has said publicly that team selection is “a managerial responsibility” and that Ronaldo is still welcome.
The next test comes in mid-November, when Portugal play Denmark on November 14 and Wales on November 17. Cristiano Ronaldo is Portugal’s all-time top scorer with 146 goals in 234 appearances. Whether he adds to that total, or whether the Norway match turns out to be his last involvement, may come down to that meeting.
Why This Week Matters for Cristiano Ronaldo’s Legacy
All of this points to where Cristiano Ronaldo’s career is now. His Ballon d’Or-winning years are behind him. The five trophies, the 2008 double at Manchester United and the Champions League titles at Real Madrid are now the material for polls about the greatest seasons in history.
At the same time, he is still playing and scoring regularly at 41, and he is still chasing a 1,000th career goal.
Monday’s ceremony will crown a new winner, most likely Kane or Yamal. Two days later, the fan vote is expected to name a Cristiano Ronaldo season the best of all time. Neither result will settle the Ronaldo-versus-Messi argument, but the B.O.A.T. numbers show how many fans want to have that argument and how strongly they back Ronaldo in it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cristiano Ronaldo nominated for the 2026 Ballon d’Or?
No. Cristiano Ronaldo is not on the 30-man men’s shortlist for 2026. Lionel Messi is the only player from the Ronaldo-Messi era still on the list.
When is the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony?
Monday, October 26, 2026, at the London Palladium, starting at 8pm GMT. It streams free on DAZN and the official Ballon d’Or website.
What does B.O.A.T. stand for?
“Ballon d’Or Of All Time.” It is a paid fan poll on the best Ballon d’Or-winning season ever. It is not an official trophy, and results are due on October 28.
How many Ballon d’Or awards has Cristiano Ronaldo won?
Five, in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. Messi holds the record with eight.
Sources
GOAL: Cristiano Ronaldo dominates Lionel Messi in official ‘B.O.A.T.’ poll
Yahoo Sports: Cristiano Ronaldo pulls ahead of Lionel Messi in a vote revisiting football’s most iconic seasons
Ballon d’Or: Is the BOAT the new Super Ballon d’Or? Here’s the answer!
UEFA: 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony — when and where, all the nominees
The National: Ballon d’Or 2026 nominees, favourites, ceremony date and how to watch
Squawka: Ballon d’Or odds 2026
Ummid: Ronaldo, Hamdan, Gabriel shine as Al Nassr defeats Al Faisaly
Al Jazeera: Ronaldo scores, waves Saudi scarf in Al-Nassr’s win after security delay
Sky Sports: Cristiano Ronaldo breaks silence over national team walkout
World Soccer Talk: Ronaldo’s Portugal future takes another turn after Jorge Jesus sets return conditions
Leon Ramoviq
Primary Author · Editorial Reviewer · Researcher Leon Ramoviq is a digital media researcher, content creator, and primary author at Smashology Media. His work focuses on researching, verifying, and developing stories across entertainment, culture, sports, internet trends, curiosity-driven topics, and viral news. Before publishing, Leon reviews sources, cross-checks key claims, and works to ensure that articles are clear, accurately represented, and based on reliable information rather than unverified social-media speculation. With experience in digital media, graphic design, social media content, and online audience engagement, he brings both an editorial and visual perspective to the stories published on Smashology. Leon is particularly interested in how stories spread online, why certain topics capture public attention, and how complex or trending information can be presented in a simple and engaging format. Role at Smashology As a primary author and researcher, Leon is involved in: • Researching stories and identifying original or reliable sources • Writing and developing articles for Smashology • Reviewing facts, names, dates, quotations, and contextual information • Checking stories for misleading or unsupported claims • Reviewing articles before publication • Following developments and updating stories when meaningful new information becomes available • Maintaining editorial consistency across Smashology content Editorial Approach Leon believes engaging content should not come at the expense of accuracy. His approach is to combine strong storytelling with responsible sourcing, clear attribution, and additional verification when a story originates from social media or rapidly developing online discussions.
