2016 Ballon d’Or: a fourth trophy for Cristiano Ronaldo, ahead of L. Messi and A. Griezmann

Cristiano Ronaldo, the Real Madrid CF striker (LaLiga Santander) won the Ballon d’Or for 2016, awarded by the weekly magazine France Football on 12/12/2016. The Portuguese footballer succeeds Lionel Messi (ARG, FC Barcelona), who won the year before.

This Ballon d’Or is the fourth won by Cristiano Ronaldo, after those of 2008, 2013, and 2014. Only Lionel Messi - five-time winner in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015 - has done better. The two rivals have won the last nine Ballon d’Ors.

The first six in the 2016 ranking all play in Spain:
• 1 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid / Portugal) 745 points
• 2 - Lionel Messi (Barcelona / Argentina) 316
• 3 - Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid / France) 198
• 4 - Luis Suarez (Barcelona / Uruguay) 91
• 5 - Neymar (FC Barcelona / Brazil) 68
• 6 - Gareth Bale (Real Madrid / Wales) 60
• 7 - Riyad Mahrez (Leicester / Algeria ) 20
• 8 - Jamie Vardy (Leicester / England) 11
• 9 - Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus / Italy) and Pepe (Real Madrid / Portugal) 8

Between 2010 and 2015, awarding of the Ballon d’Or was organised jointly by France Football, creator…