NewsFans vote Cristiano Ronaldo's 2008 the best Ballon d'Or of all time
In a fan vote for the award's 70th year, Ronaldo's 42-goal season at Manchester United finished ahead of Lionel Messi's 2012 and his own 2017.
Cristiano Ronaldo's 2008 Ballon d'Or has been voted the best Ballon d'Or of all time in a fan vote marking the award's 70th year. The result was announced on Wednesday, 28 October.
The vote opened on 1 October and closed at 23:59 Paris time on 27 October. Only players who won the Ballon d'Or at least twice could be picked, and fans voted for single winning seasons, not careers. Lionel Messi's 2012 season finished second and Ronaldo's 2017 season third.
The rules
It was a fan vote, not an official award. It carries no trophy and does not change the official count of Ballon d'Ors. Fans could pay to cast more than one ballot, which Messi supporters pointed to after the result.
The 2008 season
Ronaldo scored 42 goals in all competitions in 2007-08 for Manchester United, playing as a winger. Thirty-one came in the Premier League, which won him the Golden Boot, and he finished as the Champions League's top scorer with eight. United won both the league and the Champions League.
In the Champions League final against Chelsea in Moscow on 21 May 2008, Ronaldo scored United's goal with a 26th-minute header in a 1-1 draw. In the shootout, Petr Čech saved his penalty. Chelsea captain John Terry then slipped and hit the post with the kick that would have won it, and Edwin van der Sar saved from Nicolas Anelka. United won 6-5 on penalties.
On 2 December 2008 in Paris, Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or with 446 points, ahead of Messi on 281 and Fernando Torres on 179. He was the first Manchester United player to win it since George Best in 1968.
Messi's 2012 season, second in the fan vote, included 91 goals in a calendar year for Barcelona and Argentina.
The fans went back eighteen years, past Madrid, Juventus and Saudi, to a 23-year-old winger at United. That tells you how good that season was. And it started with him missing a penalty in Moscow.
- Vanguard: "Full list: Ballon d'Or of All Time as Ronaldo emerges winner" (Oct 2026)
- Khel Now: "What is Ballon d'Or BOAT Award?" (Oct 2026)
- Yahoo Sports: "The all-time Ballon d'Or winner has been decided" (28 Oct 2026)
- World Soccer Talk and Portugal.fr: the vote and its rules (Oct 2026)
- Wikipedia, The National, Sky Sports and UEFA.com: 2008 Ballon d'Or results
- premierleague.com 2007/08 season review and FourFourTwo: Ronaldo's 2007-08 season
- Wikipedia, Salon and Channel 4 News: 2008 Champions League final, Moscow (21 May 2008)
Every factual line in this story is checked against at least two independent sources, unless the text says it comes from one report.