B.O.A.T.: how the Ballon d'Or of All Time vote works
B.O.A.T. stands for Ballon d’Or of All Time. France Football opened the vote in early October to mark the award’s 70th edition, and it asks fans to pick the best single Ballon d’Or ever won. The choice is a winning year, not a player: Cristiano Ronaldo in 2008 and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2017 are separate entries.
Voting runs on ballondor.com/vote until 23:59 Paris time on 27 October, the day after this year’s ceremony in London. The result is due on 28 October.
How the vote works
Only players who have won the Ballon d’Or at least twice are on the ballot. There are ten of them, with 32 winning years between them, so the vote covers 32 of the 69 awards presented since 1956.
Each vote costs one euro. What you pay for is a digital photo download, and the vote comes with it. There is no limit: every new photo is another vote. Everyone who takes part is entered in a draw for two tickets to the 2027 ceremony.
The 32 years on the ballot
| PLAYER | WINNING YEARS | CLUBS |
|---|---|---|
| Lionel Messi | 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2023 | Barcelona, PSG, Inter Miami |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 | Manchester United, Real Madrid |
| Johan Cruyff | 1971, 1973, 1974 | Ajax, Barcelona |
| Michel Platini | 1983, 1984, 1985 | Juventus |
| Marco van Basten | 1988, 1989, 1992 | Milan |
| Alfredo Di Stéfano | 1957, 1959 | Real Madrid |
| Franz Beckenbauer | 1972, 1976 | Bayern Munich |
| Kevin Keegan | 1978, 1979 | Hamburg |
| Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | 1980, 1981 | Bayern Munich |
| Ronaldo | 1997, 2002 | Inter, Real Madrid |
Messi has eight entries and Cristiano Ronaldo five. Ronaldo in this table is the Brazilian, Ronaldo Nazário. The 2020 award was not presented because of the pandemic.
Where it stands
In the standings reported on 21 October, Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2008 had about 75% of the votes. That was the year he won the Premier League and the Champions League with Manchester United and scored 42 goals in all competitions. Messi’s 2012, the calendar year in which he scored 91 goals, was second with about 9%. Ronaldo’s 2017 and Messi’s 2023 came next. Every entry from before 2008 was under 1%.
The split works against Messi. His support is spread across eight entries, and fans arguing over whether 2012, 2015 or 2023 was his best year are voting against each other. Ronaldo’s voters have mostly settled on one season.
Why the vote has been criticised
Because anyone can buy as many votes as they like, the count measures money as much as opinion. The Swiss site bote.ch called it an absurd vote, and one fan posted on X that they had voted 30 times for Ronaldo. France Football had not answered the criticism when this was written.
The real Ballon d’Or works differently. Since 2022 it has been decided by a jury of journalists from the top 100 countries in the FIFA ranking, one per country, and nobody pays to take part.
The seasons with a case
Ronaldo’s 2008 and Messi’s 2012 are only two of the candidates. Some of the others:
- Messi, 2015. Barcelona won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. Messi scored twice in the Copa del Rey final and 10 times in the Champions League.
- Messi, 2023. He captained Argentina to the World Cup in Qatar, scored twice in the final and was named player of the tournament.
- Platini, 1984. He scored nine goals at the European Championship in France, still the record for one tournament, and France won it. Juventus won Serie A and the Cup Winners’ Cup the same year.
- Van Basten, 1988. Milan won Serie A, and he finished Euro 88 as top scorer with five goals, including the volley in the final against the Soviet Union.
- Cruyff, 1971. Ajax won the first of their three European Cups in a row.
- Ronaldo, 2002. Eight goals at the World Cup in Japan and South Korea, both goals in the final against Germany.
Who is not on the ballot
Pelé and Diego Maradona are missing because the Ballon d’Or was only open to European players until 1995. France Football gave Maradona an honorary award in 1995, and in 2016 it went back over the old editions and decided Pelé would have won seven and Maradona two. Neither counts for B.O.A.T.
This is also not France Football’s first attempt to name the best of its winners. In 1989 it gave Alfredo Di Stéfano a one-off Super Ballon d’Or, with Cruyff and Platini behind him. Di Stéfano’s 1957 and 1959 are on this year’s ballot and had under 1% each on 21 October.
The ballot was set before this year’s ceremony. If Ousmane Dembélé or Rodri win on 26 October, they will become two-time winners, and Rodri’s first came in 2024, but neither year will be on the B.O.A.T. list. More on how the World Cup shapes the vote is in who wins the Ballon d’Or in a World Cup year.
Test yourself on them
Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dembélé and Rodri are all in Guess the Footballer, where each guess shows how close you are on nationality, league, club, position and age. For the clubs they played for, try Football Grid.