Cristiano Ronaldo was top of the official B.O.A.T. poll with 62% of the total vote. The honorary award ceremony was set to take place at The London Palladium in London as part of a celebration of seven decades of football history.
How the poll was structured
The Ballon d'Or organizers unveiled ten nominees for the honorary trophy, dubbed the 'Ballon d'Or Of All Time'. The poll evaluates each award-winning season individually, and the list of eligible players was restricted to those who had won the top individual honour at least twice.
Messi's place in the vote
Lionel Messi was second in the poll with his 2012 season, and Messi's 2023 campaign was in the poll. Messi's support was split across eight different winning years in the poll.
The eligible players
The ten eligible players were Alfredo Di Stefano, Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Kevin Keegan, Ronaldo Nazario, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Voting process and report
The special poll was decided by supporters via digital platforms rather than exclusively by a panel of international journalists. Fans could cast unlimited votes at a fee of one euro per submission, and online voting was set to run until midnight on October 25. GOAL said Marca reported that the disparity between Ronaldo and Messi in the poll had become a major talking point across global sports media.