Cristiano Ronaldo has been nominated for an 18th time to win the Ballon d'Or and while he is not favourite to snare the award in 2022, he has an extraordinary relationship with it.
Through a remarkable career with Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, Sporting Lisbon and his nation Portugal, Ronaldo has been an ever-present contender and winner of the Ballon d'Or alongside his great rival Lionel Messi.
The Sporting News looks at Ronaldo's history with the Ballon d'Or — the award for best individual footballer of the year.
MORE: The history of Messi vs. Ronaldo for the Ballon d'Or
How many times has Cristiano Ronaldo won Ballon d'Or?
Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or on five occasions, which is second only to Lionel Messi picking it up seven times.
The Portuguese international collected the honour in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.
He has also placed second six times (2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2018) and once in third (2019).
In 23 years of senior football, Ronaldo has been nominated to win the Ballon d'Or 18 times, with 2003 being the last time he wasn't on the final shortlist.
Cristiano Ronaldo's first Ballon d'Or
While at Manchester United, Ronaldo won his first Ballon d'Or in December 2008 — one year after finishing second in the award to Kaka.
The then-23-year-old finished comfortably ahead of Messi and Liverpool's Fernando Torres to claim the prestigious award for the first time.
By the end of the 2007/08 season, Ronaldo had led Manchester United to the Champions League and Premier League titles, scoring 31 goals in 34 games in the league, and eight in 11 in Europe.
He was the first Red Devil to win the Ballon d'Or award since George Best in 1968.
MORE: All-time Ballon d'Or winners
#40ansTelefoot / J-9 / 2008
— Téléfoot (@telefoot_TF1) August 25, 2017
Quand Téléfoot remettait son premier Ballon d'Or à @Cristiano Ronaldo 😯👍 pic.twitter.com/aQp4pKu1QR
Cristiano Ronaldo's last Ballon d'Or
Ronaldo's most recent Ballon d'Or triumph came while at Real Madrid in 2017 and it was the second in a row for him.
He defeated Messi and PSG's Neymar to win the crown for the fifth time, which saw him equal Messi for Ballon d'Or awards at the time.
When the 2016/17 campaign concluded, Ronaldo had scored 25 goals in 25 La Liga matches and 12 goals in 11 Champions Leagues games to lead Real to the league title and their third successive Champions League crown.
Ronaldo went on to join Juventus in 2018/19 but he only managed to finish second in the 2018 voting (behind Luka Modric) and third in 2019 (behind Messi and Virgil van Dijk).
Who has won the most Ballon d'Or titles?
Ronaldo's great rival Lionel Messi has won the most Ballon d'Or titles with seven — two ahead of the current Manchester United striker.
The two combatants were neck-and-neck in 2017 when Ronaldo won his fifth Ballon d'Or to draw level with Messi in number of wins (5).
However, Messi claimed the award twice more in 2019 and 2021 to move two wins ahead of Ronaldo.
Aside from Ronaldo and Messi, only three players have won the award on three occasions: Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten
Which Portuguese players have won the Ballon d'Or?
As a nation Portugal has won the Ballon d'Or on seven occasions, with Ronaldo accounting for five of them. The great Eusebio and Luis Figo won the other two.
Eusebio snared the award in 1965, while Figo hoisted the Golden Ball in 2000.
The seven Ballon d'Or trophies are tied for the most by a single nation alongside Argentina, Netherlands and Germany.
