SP. Ronaldo and Messi’s Five Ballon d’Or Votes: Did They Ever Vote for Each Other?

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been serial winners of the Ballon d’Or trophy during their remarkable careers at the very top of the game. Regarded by most as the highest individual honour a footballer can receive, the award was founded by France Football in 1956 by sports writers Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran, and was based exclusively on voting by football journalists up until 2006.

Originally, it was awarded to European players before 1995’s expansion saw all players of any origin that have been active at European clubs eligible for the prize. The award became global in 2007 with all professional footballers from around the world being permitted.

On numerous occasions, the duo have had the chance to vote for each other to claim the Ballon d’Or prize before the prize when back to being decided by journalists. With that in mind, here are the voting records of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

How the ‘GOATs’ have voted over the years

Ronaldo and Messi’s votes amid structural changes

As said prior, the means of voting within the esteemed Ballon d’Or competition have fluctuated and changed over the years. While journalists were at the forefront until 2006, players got their say from there until 2015, when the voting power returned to 100 writers – who specifically turned out from the top 100 FIFA-ranked countries.

Before then, and in a period from the start of the 2010s, Ronaldo and Messi’s voting decisions were charted, while they also dominated the voting choices of other voting parties. As of the 2023 edition, Lionel Messi has eight Ballon d’Ors, while Cristiano Ronaldo has five.

Intriguingly, from the table above, it can be seen that neither Ronaldo nor Messi have voted for each other in the Ballon d’Or ceremonies. While there isn’t exactly bad blood between the two players, it seems that at the peak of their powers, neither were ready to give up votes to their main rival in the competition. Another interesting aspect of the results, shows that, aside from the occasion of not voting, the two use their first-hand experience in training and matches to nominate their team-mates at international and club level, with the exceptions of Radamel Falcao, Xavi and Iker Casillas for Ronaldo.

Perhaps this method of voting was one of the reasons why France Football decided to return the voting power back to journalists, rather than players. It has, after all, been an award that has been contentious – with critics occasionally describing the award as a “popularity contest”, criticising its voting process, its bias in favour of attacking players, and the idea of systematically singling out an individual in a team sport.

The Inception of FIFA’s ‘The Best’

Players are enabled to vote once more, 2016 to present day

From 2016, to allow the players some choice for an award, rather just one journalist from the top FIFA 100 countries, the France Football prize was merged with FIFA. ‘The Best’ award is heavily influenced by the opinions of fellow professionals, and thus, again enables a wider audience to see how Ronaldo and Messi have negotiated this.

Like they have with the Ballon d’Or, the two infamous players dominated this award too. Cristiano Ronaldo has won ‘The Best’ award twice, while Messi has three. Below, it can be seen how the pair voted and while the rivalry continued, Ronaldo showed a tendency not to vote for his Argentinian opposite until a compromise was struck up in 2019 and 2020.

Furthermore, perhaps in speaking with the players’ growing maturity, many votes steadily begin to incorporate top stars from other great teams. This could also point to the changes in the global elite scene, as the late 2000s and early 2010s were dominated by Ronaldo v Messi and Real Madrid v Barcelona discourse. It can still be seen to an extent below, yet the introductions of Kylian Mbappe, Matthijs De Ligt, Robert Lewandowski, and PSG’s Neymar indicate the shifting powers.

Kopa Voting

In what is the most recent twist in the tale of how Ronaldo and Messi have voted at the Ballon d’Or gala, CR7 especially, rose back to the headlines when he snubbed the vote for the Kopa Trophy of 2023 all together. Perhaps stewing from the fact that his Saudi Arabian frontier trip hadn’t earned him a place in the final rankings, Ronaldo didn’t submit his vote.

For the Kopa award, given to the best player in world football under the age of 21, the jury of former Ballon d’Or winners gets to vote for their three players, with their first preference getting three points, the second choice two points, while the third is allotted one point. While Ronaldo didn’t vote, Messi voted for Jamal Musiala as his first choice ahead of Barcelona’s Pedri. Jude Bellingham, the competition’s eventual winner, was his third pick.

According to Goal, Karim Benzema interestingly also picked Bellingham in the third spot behind compatriot Camavinga and Pedri. However, the England international was the first choice of most other voters, which included Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho, Luka Modric, Luis Figo, Ronaldo Nazario and others.