After being named the winner of the first edition of the B.O.A.T. award, Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated the distinction on social media.
The trophy was based entirely on votes from football fans around the world. The next major event in which he could compete against Lionel Messi may be the Super Ballon d’Or, potentially returning in 2029.
The 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony is over. Harry Kane won the award after a fiercely contested vote, following 12 months at Bayern Munich in which no other player scored more goals in European football. Twenty-four hours later, France Football announced Cristiano Ronaldo as the winner of the B.O.A.T. vote, beating Lionel Messi and other previous Ballon d’Or winners in the competition for the greatest Ballon d’Or winner of all time.
The Portuguese forward won a global vote in which participants paid €1 to take part in the event organized by France Football. Ronaldo thanked fans around the world for choosing him as the greatest Ballon d’Or winner of all time, recognizing his outstanding 2008 season with Manchester United.
This represents the Portuguese star’s first major individual victory over Messi in several years. However, it may not be the last, given the reports circulating for months about a possible return of the Super Ballon d’Or. The year 2029 is emerging as a potential date for the second edition of the award, whose only winner to date has been Alfredo Di Stéfano.
The Super Ballon d’Or was an award created by France Football to recognize the best footballer of the previous three decades. On December 24, 1989, Alfredo Di Stéfano won the award in recognition of his outstanding career at Real Madrid. Since then, the magazine has never awarded the trophy again, despite repeated calls from fans around the world for a new edition.
Reports from various French and British media outlets point to 2029 as a possible date for the award’s return. The same criteria that led to Di Stéfano’s victory in the first edition could be applied again. Until the coming seasons unfold, it is impossible to discuss the potential candidates without including names such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The official France Football website made it clear that the B.O.A.T. award won by Ronaldo was not equivalent to the Super Ballon d’Or. It was an honorary recognition based on fan voting, separate from the main Ballon d’Or ceremony in which Harry Kane won the top prize. Its purpose was to recognize the greatest players in the history of the award through public participation.
Only time will tell what happens next, but Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi may not have faced each other for the last time in the race for an individual award at the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony. Speculation about a possible 2029 Super Ballon d’Or continues to circulate, raising the prospect that the Portuguese and Argentine legends could once again compete for one of football’s most prestigious individual honors in three years’ time.