Ballon d’Or of All Time: Ronaldo’s 5 Seasons vs Messi’s 8

The Ballon d’Or of All Time, nicknamed the B.O.A.T., asks fans to pick the greatest single Ballon d’Or-winning season in history, not the greatest player. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi lead a list of ten nominees, and that is why searches for “CR7” jumped in France after the list appeared.

Key takeaways

• Ten players are nominated, all of them multiple Ballon d’Or winners. The nominees were announced on 20 October 2026.
• Fans vote for a specific season, such as Ronaldo 2008 or Messi 2012, so the 10 players split into 32 candidate seasons.
• Each vote costs €1, and voting closes on 27 October 2026 at 23:59 Paris time.
• Results are expected on 28 October 2026, according to World Soccer Talk.

What is the Ballon d’Or of All Time?

It is a one-off prize created to mark the 70th anniversary of the Ballon d’Or, which was first awarded in 1956. As Flashscore describes it, fans vote for the greatest individual Ballon d’Or-winning year of all time.

Only players who won the Ballon d’Or at least twice made the cut, according to Foot Mercato. The French site also reports that voting needs a one-euro contribution, and that voters can enter a draw for two tickets to the 2027 ceremony, the 71st edition.

Who are the 10 nominees and which seasons count?

The table below uses the winning years listed by World Soccer Talk and Flashscore.

Add it up and you get 32 seasons on the ballot. Messi owns eight of them, a quarter of the field.

Why are Pelé, Maradona and Zidane missing?

The two-win rule rules out single-time winners such as Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho and Eusébio. Pelé and Diego Maradona are absent for a different reason: during their careers the Ballon d’Or was limited to European players, World Soccer Talk notes.

That is the awkward part of this list. It is built on the Ballon d’Or’s own history, so it inherits the gaps in that history.

How does the fan vote work?

You vote on the official Ballon d’Or website for one season. Each vote costs €1, and according to World Soccer Talk you can vote more than once. Voting closes on 27 October 2026 at 23:59 Paris time, though one outlet gives “midnight”, so treat the exact minute with care.

Think of it as a tournament where Messi enters eight runners and the others enter two or three each. Votes can split between a player’s own seasons, which makes the final ranking hard to guess.

Who is leading the B.O.A.T. vote?

No official standings were confirmed in the sources we checked. One Spanish-language outlet reported a snapshot with Ronaldo’s 2008 season in front and Messi’s 2012 second, but that was an unofficial snapshot and may have changed. Treat it as a rumour until the organisers publish the result.

Opinion: the season format is the interesting bit. Ronaldo’s 2008 year, with Manchester United and a Champions League win, is a clean story. Messi’s votes could scatter across eight good options.

What happens next

Results are expected on 28 October 2026, but the date is described as “expected”, not guaranteed. The prize draw tickets are for the 2027 ceremony, so the wider story will carry into next year.

Once the winner is named, expect the usual Messi versus Ronaldo argument to restart, this time with one specific season as the evidence.

FAQ

Is the B.O.A.T. a vote for the best player ever?

No. It picks the best single Ballon d’Or-winning season, so a player’s whole career is not judged as one entry.

How much does it cost to vote?

Each vote costs €1, and voting closes on 27 October 2026 at 23:59 Paris time.

When is the winner announced?

Results are expected on 28 October 2026. Check the official Ballon d’Or channels for confirmation.

Want the numbers behind Messi’s side of the ballot? Read our year-by-year list of his eight Ballon d’Or wins, then decide which season you would pick.