France Football crowns Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2008 award as the best in history

Just two days after the Ballon d’Or ceremony, French magazine France Football has introduced a new award called B.O.A.T. (Best of All Time Ballon d’Or), created to determine the best winner of this trophy in history. Cristiano Ronaldo was named the winner with the 2008 edition.

This was the first Ballon d’Or of the Portuguese player’s career, and in the voting he left behind Lionel Messi’s 2012 edition. The two stars of world football top the list of the 12 most-voted editions, followed by Ronaldo Nazario with the 2002 Ballon d’Or.

For this special award, France Football changed the traditional voting method. Instead of journalists, the magazine’s users voted for the best Ballon d’Or edition in history.

All footballers who had won this award at least twice during their careers were included in the race. Voters had to choose a specific edition, such as Messi in 2012 or Ronaldo in 2008.

The list of candidates included great names in football history, such as Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldo Nazario, Marco van Basten, Michel Platini, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Kevin Keegan, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff and Alfredo di Stefano.

However, participation in this vote was not free. Each vote cost one euro, while participants had the chance to win two tickets to the 2027 Ballon d’Or ceremony.

According to the French media outlet, 5,009 people voted more than once. Of these, 44 voters participated between 10 and 26 times, 300 voted between five and nine times, while 4,665 people voted between two and four times.

Thus, Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2008 edition was selected as the best in the history of the Ballon d’Or, in a vote organized by France Football magazine itself.