Juventus Portuguese superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo, widely considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, has won numerous professional, individual and squad honours during a sterling professional, including five Ballon d’Or awards.
Now, the 35-year-old is adding another gong to the honour rolls once again. Ronaldo has been awarded the Golden Foot award for 2020. He achieved this honour by beating out stiff competition from the likes Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, Juve’s Giorgio Chiellini, PSG’s Neymar, Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos, Man City’s Sergio Aguero, Barcelona’s Gerard Pique, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Inter Milan’s Arturo Vidal.
An annual prize which was first introduced in 2003, the Golden Foot award, unlike the Ballon d’Or, can only be won once in a player’s career and it is a shock that it took Ronaldo so long to win the honour.
Even more shocking is the fact that Ronaldo’s arch-rival, Messi, is yet to win the honour so far in his career as well.
Ronaldo was in good company while securing the silverware at the ceremony because fellow Bianconeri representative and club chairman Andrea Agnelli was also crowned the first-ever winner of the Golden Foot Prestige.
The 18 footballers who have won the very elusive prize so far are:
2003 – Roberto Baggio
2004 – Pavel Nedved
2005 – Andriy Shevchenko
2006 – Ronaldo Nazario
2007 – Alessandro Del Piero
2008 – Roberto Carlos
2009 – Ronaldinho
2010 – Francesco Totti
2011 – Ryan Giggs
2012 – Zlatan Ibrahimovic
2013 – Didier Drogba
2014 – Andres Iniesta
2015 – Samuel Eto’o
2016 – Gianluigi Buffon
2017 – Iker Casillas
2018 – Edinson Cavani
2019 – Luka Modric
2020 – Cristiano Ronaldo
The annual award is a “prestigious lifetime achievement award attributed every year to the greatest in the history of world football.” The conditions to be met are that nominees must be active and have to be over the age of 28, which may offer an explanation in the delay in Ronaldo or Messi winning.
Ten nominees are chosen by a panel of international journalists based on those criteria that they are at least 28 years of age and are still playing. Out of this list, a winner is selected by an online poll, where anyone can vote.
The winner of the award leaves a permanent mould of his footprints on “The Champions Promenade”, on the seafront of the Principality of Monaco.
