Winning a Ballon d’Or is a big deal for any soccer player. It is the highest honor a player can win through his plays and the impact the player had on results throughout the year. In layman’s terms, we can say that the Ballon d’Or is given to the best player of the year. France football gives it to the player who had been exceptional on the soccer pitch. 

Although it is now an international award, there was a time they only gave it to the European players, then came a time they only gave it to the players playing in the European league. Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo has won the prestigious award 5 times.

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The Argentinian star and Ronaldo’s arch-rival Lionel Messi has won the most in history. The little magician has won a total of seven Ballon d’Or and after winning the World Cup, he has made his chances very strong to win the 8th one too.

Cristiano Ronaldo sold one of his trophies

Almost no player keeps all of his Ballon d’Or trophies. Given none has won more than the two biggest stars of the game. What players generally do is either give the trophy to the club they were playing for when they won the trophy or keep it for like display. What Cristiano Ronaldo did with one of his trophies will shock you.

The star has won 5 Ballon d’Ors but today he only has four of the trophies. Only enough that we know who has control of the missing trophy. They sold the trophy to the richest man in Israel. When Cristiano Ronaldo won the 2013 Ballon d’Or, he asked to take the trophy to auction and use the money for charity.

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According to a report, he sold the trophy for an eye-watering 640,000 USD approx at that time. They donated all the money made from the sale to the Make-A-Wish foundation. Cristiano Ronaldo wasn’t the first one to donate his Ballon d’Or. However, his donation was by far the biggest.

Pele would have been tied with Messi

In the beginning, only the European players could win the Ballon d’Or. Although reforms came later on. In all this the biggest legend of the game, Pele didn’t win any trophy for himself. Recently France Football made the re-calculations that the late legend would have won seven Ballon d’Or in his career if there were no restrictions.

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The debate will go on, fans will always have to choose between their favorite players. But, how Ronaldo chooses to donate his winnings is just inspiring. He must have gotten good karma for donating the 2013 Ballon d’Or as he won the very next year.