The current contemporary football players in the world of world football include Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. For these two players, the world is divided into two parts.
These are the two players who have won the Ballon d’Or award, which is considered the best award in the world of football, 8 and 5 times respectively. Since 2008, they have jointly won this award 13 times.
Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record for being nominated for the Ballon d’Or award 18 times. He is also the second-highest winning player in the history of the award, having won the award five times.
Lionel Messi, who has won the award eight times, is the all-time winningest player. He has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or 16 times.
But these two players could not be nominated for Ballon d’Or 2024 together for the first time after 21 years.
World football stars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were both nominated for the Ballon d’Or for the first time in 2003.
Most Ballon d’Or nominations of all time
- Cristiano Ronaldo – 18 times
- Lionel Messi – 16 times
- Paolo Maldini – 13 times
- Johan Cruyff – 12 times
- Karim Benzema – 12 times
- Samuel Eto’o – 9 times
- Zinedine Zidane – 8 times
- Wayne Rooney – 8 times
- Didier Drogba – 8 times
- Iker Casillas – 8 times
