Ronaldo: 'The Golden Ball is just fiction'

In a recent interview, Cristiano Ronaldo made a shocking statement about the Golden Ball award.

Ronaldo criticizes Golden Ball - Photo: REUTERS

When asked about this year's award, Ronaldo expressed his frustration and replied simply: "It's fiction to me." This statement once again sparked a wave of strong debate in the football world.

Ahead of the 2025 UEFA Nations League final, Ronaldo also did not hesitate to express his doubts about the value of the Golden Ball.

He stressed that only Champions League winners deserved to be honored, implicitly criticizing the current voting mechanism as not being transparent.

Ronaldo declared: "I no longer believe in the Ballon d'Or awards, because I understand what goes on behind the scenes."

In the past, Ronaldo has repeatedly criticized the Golden Ball, especially since being completely defeated by Messi in the race. Up to now, Messi has won 8 Golden Balls, overwhelmingly compared to Ronaldo's 5 wins.

Because of this attitude, the football world disagreed with Ronaldo's sarcastic comments, claiming that he criticized this prestigious award only because of Messi's dominance.

Former football star Franck Ribery – who was famously left out of the 2013 Ballon d'Or race despite winning the Champions League with Bayern Munich – has publicly refuted Ronaldo's views.

In that year's race, Ribery was considered to have surpassed Ronaldo in terms of performance and titles, but then the Portuguese superstar won the vote in an inexplicable way.

When he heard Ronaldo say that the Ballon d'Or should be awarded to the winner of the Champions League, Ribery posted on social media: "He said that you need to win the Champions League to get the Ballon d'Or" - with a laughing emoji.

HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ronaldo-qua-bong-vang-chi-la-hu-cau-20250810071235734.htm