With Lionel Messi being the only player ever to win the Ballon d'Or while representing a club outside of Europe, it could be argued that Cristiano Ronaldo's form should at least earn him a nomination this year, writes Junaid Benjamin.
While regular professional footballers may see a drastic decline at the age of 39 – if they even manage to play until that age – the Portugal international is disrupting that trend by putting up shockingly good numbers for Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr.
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Messi won his record-extending eighth Ballon d'Or in October last year after a 2022/23 season with Paris Saint-Germain that saw him amass 32 goals and 25 assists in 55 appearances across all competitions before joining Inter Miami in July 2023.
His most notable on-field achievement, however, was leading Argentina to the ultimate success at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, ending their 36-year wait for a global triumph. This led to the 36-year-old bagging one of the most prestigious individual awards in world football. In doing so, he became the first player to win it while not representing a European club.
Last year, though, significant changes were made to the evaluation criteria for the Ballon d'Or, changes that will see individual performance and the candidate's decisiveness and impressive character being put above team trophies and collective achievements.
This may present the ideal scenario for Ronaldo, whose Al Nassr side currently lie second in the SPL, 12 points behind league leaders Al Hilal with just seven games left to play. The Knights of Najd were also knocked out at the semi-final stage of the Saudi Super Cup, as well as in the quarter-finals of the Asian Football Confederation Champions League.
The five-time UEFA Champions League winner has, however, thus far in the 23/24 season managed to score an impressive 36 goals and provide 12 assists in 37 appearances across all competitions. In the current calendar year, the 39-year-old has bagged 12 goals in as many appearances, as well as an assist. This translates roughly to a goal every 83 minutes, and 77 minutes per goal contribution.
If the former Manchester United star continues in the same vein, or possibly kicks it up a notch, he should force himself into the Golden Ball conversation. In fact, the numbers he put up last year should have done so already. In 2023, he garnered 54 goals and 15 assists in 59 matches.
This was more than Erling Haaland, who placed second in the Ballon d'Or ranking after scoring 44 goals and winning the treble with Manchester City last year. But the award is for individual performances so one would think that if the Portuguese continues scoring at a phenomenal rate this time around, his efforts will be recognised.
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One only wonders how much more he would have scored were it not for the Saudi Pro League taking a break in order to accommodate the AFC Asia Cup, which ran from 12 January to 10 February earlier this year.
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