For nearly the past two decades, Cristiano Ronaldo has starred like few footballers ever have.
The Portuguese attacker has won team trophies everywhere he has played and that's inevitably resulted in him picking up a number of individual awards.
While those honours have dried up slightly in the last few years, Ronaldo's track record of individual success remains nearly unmatched.
The 38-year-old notably didn't make the shortlist of candidates for FIFA's The Best award for 2022, however, but the forward is certainly no stranger to the accolade.
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Has Ronaldo ever won FIFA's The Best award?
While not in contention for 2022, Ronaldo has previously been named The Best FIFA Men's Player on two occasions.
The former Manchester United star was crowned the inaugural winner of the award in 2016 after edging out Lionel Messi for the trophy.
Ronaldo then backed up his title the following year as he once again pipped Messi to the honour — this time earning more than double the Argentine's votes.
The Portugul legend hasn't won the award since, however, finishing second in 2018 and 2020.
Ronaldo's two award wins have also since been matched by Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo FIFA's The Best results
| Year | Finish |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 1st |
| 2017 | 1st |
| 2018 | 2nd |
| 2019 | 3rd |
| 2020 | 2nd |
| 2021 | 7th |
| 2022 | N/A |
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Why Ronaldo missed out on FIFA's The Best for 2022
As you can see, this is the first year since FIFA's The Best was introduced that Ronaldo isn't even in contention for the award.
It was a disappointing and dramatic 2022 for the Portugal star, who forced his way out of Manchester United after a lacklustre return and missed out on winning the World Cup in likely his final appearance at the tournament.
While Ronaldo has hit the ground running in Saudi Arabia with Al Nassr, his stats while at the Red Devils in 2022 were well below his usual high standards.
The 38-year-old only scored three goals across his final 16 appearances for Manchester United and netted just once from five games at the 2022 World Cup with Portugal.
With the likes of Lionel Messi, Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe firing on all fronts, it wasn't surprising to see Ronaldo miss out on even making the shortlist for FIFA's The Best for 2022.
Ronaldo vs. Messi: The Best, Ballon d'Or, individual trophies
While Ronaldo and Messi are tied for now when it comes to The Best award, it is the Argentine that has moved clear in other individual award categories.
Messi currently has seven Ballon d'Or wins compared to Ronaldo's five and he has also taken out the European Golden Shoe six times — two more than Ronaldo.
Both players spent several years battling in La Liga but it was Messi that seemingly shined brighter in that competition with the Argentine winning the competition's Best Player award six times with Ronaldo only taking it out once.
At international level, Messi also has an edge having won the World Cup's Golden Ball twice — an honour Ronaldo hasn't lifted at all.
