For the first time since 2003, Cristiano Ronaldo is not on the Golden Ball nomination list announced by France Football magazine.

Since 2004, the Portuguese superstar has always been on the nomination list. He won five Golden Balls in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.

Ronaldo also finished second six times in the race for this prestigious individual title, in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2018. He ranked third in 2019, ranked sixth in 2010 and 2010. 2021. Ronaldo twice ranked 20th in 2005 and 2022. In the remaining years, he ranked 12th (2004) and 14th (2006).

Ronaldo in the Portuguese team shirt in the Euro 2024 qualifiers. Photo: AFP

The 2022-2023 season saw Ronaldo end his football career in Europe, leaving Man Utd to go to Saudi Arabia to play for Al-Nassr. At the team level, Ronaldo and Portugal stopped in the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup – a tournament that Lionel Messi and Argentina won. Despite scoring 26 goals in 33 matches for Al-Nassr, Ronaldo was not on the shortlist of 30 nominations for the 2023 Golden Ball.

Besides Ronaldo, Neymar is another star who was not nominated and was absent for the second time in a row from the shortlist of Golden Ball nominations. This year, the prominent names in the list of 30 nominations are Messi, Erling Haaland , Kevin De Bruyne, Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappe or Rodri.

Ronaldo has won the second most Golden Balls in history, only less than Messi – who owns seven of these prestigious awards. The 38-year-old superstar has just set a record of scoring 850 goals in his club and national team career, 32 goals more than Messi. In an interview before the Portuguese team’s matches in the Euro 2024 qualifiers on September 6, Ronaldo said that he and Messi had changed football history.

Portugal will be a guest in the Slovakian capital Bratislava on the evening of September 8. Three days later, they returned home to Algarve to take on Luxembourg. Ronaldo and his teammates are leading in Group J of Euro 2024 qualifying, with four wins.