Revisiting the 4 players Cristiano Ronaldo picked as future Ballon d’Or winners
Back in September 2024, Cristiano Ronaldo gave an interview in which he name-checked four players he expects to compete for the Ballon d’Or in future years… but surprisingly he did not mention Mohamed Salah or Vinicius Junior.
Fast forward five months and Salah and Vinicius, who controversially missed out on last year’s award to Rodri, are among the leading contenders to claim football’s most prestigious individual trophy later this year.
Speaking with Rio Ferdinand on his YouTube channel, Ronaldo discussed the Ballon d’Or – which he himself won five times – and explicitly mentioned four individuals he expects to compete.
Kylian Mbappe
“I think [Kylian Mbappe] will do well,” Ronaldo told Ferdinand.
“The structure of the club [Real Madrid]… it’s nice, it’s good. They have a great coach and the president, Florentino [Perez], who has been there many, many years.
“I think it won’t be a big problem because of his talent. Mbappe can be the next Golden Ball [Ballon d’Or] winner for the next years,” before mentioning the three other names.
The interview was posted back when Mbappe only had a few appearances under his belt for Los Blancos. He’d made a relatively slow start, and things would dip further with a poor El Clasico debut, but he’s since silenced his doubters in emphatic fashion.
Ronaldo stated that Madrid is the right environment for Mbappe to flourish, and on the evidence of his sensational hat-trick against Manchester City that looks to be the case.
“Madrid is the kind of team they don’t rush under pressure,” Ronaldo continued.
“Now, if you say that Madrid is going to be better or not, we don’t know. Mbappe is there now, I think Madrid will keep strong, but I don’t know if they will be better than last year. Only God knows.”
READ: 2025 Ballon d’Or power rankings: Kylian Mbappe climbs after Man City heroics…
Jude Bellingham
The second Madrid player mentioned by Ronaldo was not Vinicius Junior… but rather Jude Bellingham.
In fairness, it’s unlikely that Madrid’s all-time top goalscorer was intentionally showing the Brazilian any disrespect.
In fact, back at that stage he might have omitted Vinicius’ name at the time because he assumed the 2024 Ballon d’Or was his.
Back in September, a month before the ceremony and subsequent Madrid meltdown, Vinicius’ was the bookmakers’ strong favourite following his Champions League heroics last season.
“It was unfair in my opinion,” Ronaldo said after Rodri beat Vini to the 2024 Ballon d’Or.
“I say here in front of everybody. They give it to Rodri, he deserved it too, but they should have given it to Vinicius because he won the Champions League and scored in the final.”
Bellingham ended up on the podium, finishing third behind Rodri and Vinicius, which was easily forgotten amid the hullabaloo of his club boycotting the ceremony.
You imagine that the midfielder will need to taste international glory with England if he’s to get his hands on the prize in the future, given at a club level he’ll likely be overshadowed by team-mates Vinicius and Mbappe when it comes to the Ballon d’Or conversations.
Erling Haaland
An obvious shout, this one.
Haaland’s debut 2022-23 season with Manchester City may be the greatest individual campaign not recognised with a Ballon d’Or. He broke the Premier League goalscoring record and notched 52 goals in all competitions to fire City to a historic treble.
Unfortunately for the Norwegian, his exceptional year coincided with Lionel Messi’s World Cup fairytale.
Did that bother Ronaldo? Who’s to say? (Yes).
READ MORE: Where are they now? Every player Cristiano Ronaldo voted to win the Ballon d’Or
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name all 27 players who have played alongside both Messi and Ronaldo?
Lamine Yamal
Ronaldo wasn’t entirely towing the Real Madrid party line, picking Barcelona wonderkid Yamal as a player with the potential to compete.
“I see huge potential, great talent,” Ronaldo responded when Ferdinand asked him about the 17-year-old rising star.
“You need luck, because he’s very young. I hope he does not have any [injury] problems in the future and I think he will be one of the best in this generation, for sure”.