Ballon d'Or in the context of "Cristiano Ronaldo"

Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (Spanish: [ljoˈnel anˈdɾes ˈmesi] ; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in history, Messi has set numerous records for individual accolades won throughout his professional footballing career, including eight Ballon d'Ors, six European Golden Shoes, and eight times being named the world's best player by FIFA. In 2025, he was named the All Time Men's World Best Player by the IFFHS. He is the most decorated player in the history of professional football having won 45 team trophies. Messi's records include most goals in a calendar year (91), most goals for a single club (672 for Barcelona), most goals in La Liga (474), most assists in international football (61), most goal contributions in the FIFA World Cup (21), and most goal contributions in the Copa América (32). A prolific goalscorer and creative playmaker, Messi has scored over 890 senior career goals and provided over 400 assists for club and country—the most of any player—resulting in over 1,300 goal contributions, the highest total in the sport's history.

Messi made his competitive debut for Barcelona at age 17 in October 2004. He gradually established himself as an integral player for the club, and during his first uninterrupted season at age 22 in 2008–09 he helped Barcelona achieve the first treble in Spanish football. This resulted in Messi winning the first of four consecutive Ballon d'Ors, and by the 2011–12 season he set the European record for most goals in a season and established himself as Barcelona's all-time top scorer. During the 2014–15 campaign, where he became the all-time top scorer in La Liga, he led Barcelona to a historic second treble, leading to a fifth Ballon d'Or in 2015. He assumed Barcelona's captaincy in 2018 and won a record sixth Ballon d'Or in 2019. At Barcelona, Messi won a club-record 34 trophies, including ten La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues, among others. Financial difficulties at Barcelona led to Messi signing with French club Paris Saint-Germain in August 2021, where he won the Ligue 1 title during both of his seasons there. He joined MLS club Inter Miami in July 2023.

Gerd Müller (German pronunciation: [ˈɡɛʁt ˈmʏlɐ]; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German professional footballer. A prolific striker, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalscorers and players in the history of the sport. With success at club and international level, he is one of ten players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d'Or.

At international level with West Germany, he scored 68 goals in 62 appearances, and at club level, in 15 years with Bayern Munich, in which he scored 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga matches, he became—and still is—record holder of that league. In 74 European club games he scored 65 goals. Averaging over a goal a game with West Germany, Müller was, as of 11 July 2021, 21st on the list of all time international goalscorers, despite having played fewer matches than every other player in the top 48. Among the top scorers, he has the third-highest goal-to-game ratio. He also had the highest ratio of 0.97 goals per game in the European Cup, scoring 34 goals in 35 matches.

Franz Anton Beckenbauer (German pronunciation: [fʁants ˈbɛkn̩ˌbaʊɐ] ; 11 September 1945 – 7 January 2024) was a German professional football player, manager, and official. Nicknamed der Kaiser ("the Emperor"), he is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential players of all time. Beckenbauer was a versatile player who started out as a midfielder, but made his name as a centre-back. He is often credited as having invented the role of the modern sweeper (libero).

Twice named European Footballer of the Year, Beckenbauer appeared 103 times for West Germany, playing in three FIFA World Cups and two European Championships. He is one of ten players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the European Cup, and the Ballon d'Or. He is one of three men, along with Brazil's Mário Zagallo and France's Didier Deschamps, to have won the World Cup as a player and as a manager; he lifted the World Cup trophy as captain in 1974, and repeated the feat as a manager in 1990. He was the first captain to lift the World Cup and European Championship at the international level and the European Cup at the club level. He was named in the World Team of the 20th Century in 1998, the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002, the Ballon d'Or Dream Team in 2020, the IFFHS All-time Men's Dream Team in 2021, and in 2004, was listed in the FIFA 100 of the world's greatest living players. In August 2024, the International Sports Press Association [fr] (AIPS) voted him as the third best footballer of the past 100 years after Pelé and Diego Maradona.

George Manneh Oppong Weah (born 1 October 1966) is a Liberian politician and former professional footballer who served as the 25th president of Liberia from 2018 to 2024. Before his election for the presidency, Weah served as senator from Montserrado County. He played as a striker in his prolific 18-year professional football career which ended in 2003. Weah is the first African former professional footballer to become a head of state, and the only African Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year winner in history, winning both awards in 1995. He won the African Footballer of the Year 3 times and is considered one of the greatest strikers ever.

After beginning his career in his native Liberia, Weah spent 14 years playing for clubs in France, Italy, and England. Arsène Wenger brought him to Europe, signing him for Monaco in 1988. Weah moved to Paris Saint-Germain in 1992 where they won Division 1 in 1994 and became the top scorer of the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League. He signed for AC Milan in 1995 where he spent four successful seasons, winning the Serie A twice. Later in his career, he joined the Premier League having spells at Chelsea and Manchester City, winning the FA Cup with Chelsea, before returning to France to play for Marseille in 2001. He ended his career with Al Jazira in 2003. FourFourTwo named Weah one of the best players never to win the UEFA Champions League.

The Portugal national football team (Portuguese: Seleção Portuguesa de Futebol) has represented Portugal in men's international football competition since 1921. The national team is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), the governing body for football in Portugal. Portugal's home stadium is the Estádio Nacional in Oeiras, located next to its primary training ground and the FPF headquarters (Cidade do Futebol), but the team generally plays its home matches in stadiums across the country. The head coach is Roberto Martínez, and the captain is Cristiano Ronaldo, who holds the team records for most caps and most goals.

Portugal's first participation in a major tournament finals was at the 1966 World Cup, which saw a team featuring Ballon d'Or winner Eusébio finish in third place. Portugal also made it to the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 1984, losing to the hosts and eventual winners France. After missing out the 1998 World Cup, Portugal qualified for the Euro 2000 and started an uninterrupted streak of qualification for every European Championship and World Cup finals. In this run, Portugal finished fourth at the 2006 World Cup and runners-up at the Euro 2004, which they entered as hosts, and reached the semi-finals of the Euro 2000 and Euro 2012. This was in great part due to the production of several world class players, such as Ballon d'Or winners Luís Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo.In 2016, Portugal won its first-ever major trophy by defeating hosts France in the Euro 2016 final. With this win, the team qualified for and made its only appearance in the FIFA Confederations Cup, held in Russia, where they finished in third place. Portugal then qualified for and hosted the first finals of the UEFA Nations League in 2019, where it defeated the Netherlands to earn their second major title. Six years later, Portugal won its second Nations League and third overall title after defeating the incumbent Nations League and Euro 2024 title holders Spain in the 2025 final in Munich.

Over the course of his career, Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has received five Ballon d'Or/FIFA Ballon d'Or awards, the most for a European player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Ronaldo holds the record for most goals in the UEFA Champions League (140 goals), and the record for most goals in the UEFA European Championship (14), its qualification stage (40), and the FIFA Club World Cup (7), as well as most goals scored in a UEFA Champions League season (17 in 2013–14), most international goals (143), and most appearances in a national team (226). He has scored a record 954 senior career goals for club and country. Moreover, he is one of only three players to have made over 1,300 professional career appearances.

Collectively, Ronaldo has won 34 senior trophies in his career. He has also attained one title from youth and at least five titles from friendly competitions. All in all he had won over 300 trophies and medals by January 2021, with some of them dating back to his childhood.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr and the Portugal national team. His individual achievements include five Ballon d'Or awards. His exceptional goal-scoring ability, explosive speed, powerful knuckleball shots, and dribbling skills cemented his legacy as one of the greatest and most iconic footballers in history. In recognition of his record-breaking goalscoring success, Ronaldo received special awards for Outstanding Career Achievement by FIFA in 2021 and Champions League All-Time Top Scorer by UEFA in 2024.

Ronaldo joined Sporting CP's youth academy and made the first team in August 2002. A sought after player, Manchester United signed Ronaldo for £12 million in August 2003, an England record for a teenager. After an individually and collectively successful six-year period where Ronaldo evolved into a world class attacker, he transferred to his "dream club" Real Madrid in 2009 for a then world record £80 million. He spent nine seasons in Madrid, enjoying tremendous success and setting numerous records, including becoming the club's record goalscorer with 450 goals and being integral to the club winning four Champions League titles in a five-year span. Tensions with the hierarchy of Real Madrid resulted in Ronaldo joining Juventus in 2018 for €100 million, where he went on to win all the major honours in Italian football. He returned to Manchester United in 2021, before signing with Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr in January 2023, reportedly receiving the highest football salary in history. Ronaldo's move increased the popularity of the Saudi Pro League, attracting other high-profile players.

The UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award (previously known as the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award) is an association football award given to the footballer playing for a men's football club in Europe that is considered the best in the previous season of both club and national team competition. The award, created in 2011 by UEFA in partnership with European Sports Media (ESM) group, was initially aimed at reviving the European Footballer of the Year Award (Ballon d'Or), which was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year Award in 2010 to become the FIFA Ballon d'Or. It also replaced the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award.

Cristiano Ronaldo has won the award the most time with 3 awards and is the only player to win it twice in a row. Female players are awarded the UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award, introduced in 2013.