Ballon d’Or 2017: Winner, Nominees, Voting Breakdown

2017 marked the last time Cristiano Ronaldo won the prestigious award.

Cristiano Ronaldo won five Ballon d’Or awards in his career. / Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

The 2017 Ballon d’Or ceremony marked the final year just the men’s award was handed out as more awards were introduced the following year.

The 62nd annual award was given to Cristiano Ronaldo for the fifth time matching Lionel Messi at the time. While history has unfolded with the Argentine overtaking his Portuguese rival, two of the greatest players of all time battled it out each year for the award over multiple years. The 2017 Ballon d’Or also marks the last, and perhaps final time, Ronaldo won the award.

Here’s how the voting played out at the 2017 Ballon d’Or ceremony.

Next. Ballon d’Or winners. Men’s Ballon d’Or: All-Time List of Winners. dark

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Men’s Ballon d’Or 2017 Winner

Place	Player	Team	Points
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	946
2	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	670
3	Neymar Jr.	Barcelona / PSG	361
4	Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus	221
5	Luka Modrić	Real Madrid	84
6	Sergio Ramos	Real Madrid	71
7	Kylian Mbappé	Monaco / PSG	48
8	N’Golo Kanté	Chelsea	47
9	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	45
10	Harry Kane	Tottenham Hotspur	36
11	Edinson Cavani	PSG	32
12	Isco	Real Madrid	28
13	Luis Suárez	Barcelona	27
14	Kevin De Bruyne	Manchester City	25
15	Paulo Dybala	Juventus	23
16	Marcelo	Real Madrid	21
17	Toni Kroos	Real Madrid	20
18	Antoine Griezmann	Atlético Madrid	17
19	Eden Hazard	Chelsea	16
20	David de Gea	Manchester United	15
T-21	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Borussia Dortmund	14
T-21	Leonardo Bonucci	Juventus / Milan	14
23	Sadio Mané	Liverpool	10
24	Radamel Falcao	Monaco	9
25	Karim Benzema	Real Madrid	7
26	Jan Oblak	Atlético Madrid	4
27	Mats Hummels	Bayern Munich	3
28	Edin Džeko	Roma	2
T-29	Philippe Coutinho	Liverpool	0
T-29	Dries Mertens	Napoli	0

Ronaldo might have walked away with the award, but seven Real Madrid players in total were shortlisted in 2017 including club legends Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and Luka Modrić. Los Blancos were in the middle of their Champions League three-peat given the Ballon d’Or previously was awarded at the end of a calendar year. Ronaldo and company went on to defeat Liverpool in Kyiv, Ukraine later that season marking four European trophies in the 2010s.

Ronaldo beat Messi by 276 points while both were joined by Neymar Jr. and Gianluigi Buffon to receive over 100 points.

2017 also marks the final ceremony in which just the men’s Ballon d’Or was given out. The following year, the women’s Ballon d’Or and Kopa Trophy are created given to the best woman footballer and the best young player in the world.

The following ceremony in 2018 marked a historic year in the award’s annals snapping a streak of dominance by Ronaldo and Messi.

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READ MORE ON THE RECENT HISTORY OF THE BALLON D’OR

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