In connection with the 70th anniversary of the prestigious Ballon d'Or award, organizers reportedly conducted a public online poll to determine the ultimate B.O.A.T. (Ballon D’or Of All Time). According to the final results, football enthusiasts selected Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo's 2008 accolade as the greatest single-year award in the history of the ceremony.

Participation in the voting process allegedly required a symbolic fee of 1 euro, while users were simultaneously permitted to cast an unlimited number of votes for their preferred candidates. This specific voting structure has raised doubts and criticism among sports commentators regarding the overall fairness, transparency, and statistical validity of the outcome.

Interestingly, the entire top ten positions of the ranking were exclusively dominated by just two modern figures: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. While Ronaldo's 2008 victory claimed the top spot, Messi's 2012 award followed in second place, with the remaining eight spots split strictly between various triumphant years of the two rivals spanning from 2009 to 2023.

The initial pool of candidates supposedly included legends who had won the traditional Ballon d'Or at least twice, such as Ronaldo Nazário, Marco van Basten, Michel Platini, and Johan Cruyff. However, historical greats were entirely overshadowed, with the highest-ranking player outside the top two being the Brazilian Ronaldo for his 2002 award, which only managed to secure the 13th position.

Source: kun.uz