Cristiano Ronaldo: Manchester United star did not receive a single Ballon d'Or vote
For the first time in 17 years, the five-time previous winner didn't even make it onto the podium at the Ballon d'Or awards
Cristiano Ronaldo received zero votes for this year's Ballon d'Or, the award's organisers have revealed.
The Manchester United star placed 20th on the 2022 Ballon d'Or list, which was revealed at Monday's ceremony in Paris – hot favourite Karim Benzema collected football's ultimate individual gong for the first time.
But it's now emerged that Ronaldo – who's scooped the prize five times in the past – was one of 11 players not to get a single vote.
France Football (via Goal) – who have presented the Ballon d'Or since its inception in 1956 – have published details of how many votes each player ended up with. Joining Ronaldo on zero were: Harry Kane, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo, Joshua Kimmich, Mike Maignan, Christopher Nkunku, Darwin Nunez and Antonio Rudiger.
Ronaldo's 20th-placed finished marked the first time he'd not been on the Ballon d'Or podium since 2005. It was the first time since 2006 that neither he nor Lionel Messi – who wasn't even nominated this year – had appeared in the top three.
The news comes during another controversy-tinged week for Ronaldo, who refused to come on during United's 2-0 win over Tottenham at Old Trafford on Wednesday – and stormed down the tunnel before full-time.
Consequently, Erik ten Hag has made the Portuguese train alone and dropped him from the squad for Saturday's trip to Chelsea.
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Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...