Cristiano Ronaldo will be crowned as Ballon D'or's winner for this year over Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann, according to Mundo Deportivo.
The Real Madrid forward is expected to win the award after enjoying a successful year, having won the Champions League in the club level and captaining Portugal to European Championships. This makes Ronaldo's win for this year one less more against Lionel Messi's five Ballon D'ors, since this will be his fourth. Ronaldo won the awards in 2008, 2013 and 2014. The two have dominated the awards since 2008, and Cristiano Ronaldo might finally tie with Messi's record for 2017.
France Football magazine announced that the winner of the award will be declared on December 12 at 20:00 CET time (14:00 EST time). The ceremony will now take place in Paris, instead of Zurich which is close to FIFA headquarters, as the partnership between France Football and FIFA has ended already.
The awards is usually a highly-anticipated affair on who will win among the duopoly that is Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, but with Ronaldo's premature confirmation as per the leaks, the ceremony for this year might serve more as a formality. The Ballon D'or award is decided by voting among 173 journalists worldwide.
The leaks might have happened due to protocol changes regarding the award announcement. For the past five years, FIFA controlled voting and announced the winner in a live ceremony. France Football magazine will be in charge from now on. The magazine will meet up with Cristiano Ronaldo on Monday for his interview and photoshoot, as per Mundo Deportivo.
FIFA will have its own awards ceremony on January 9, with its own Best Player of the Year award. If Cristiano Ronaldo wins the Ballon D'or, then his rival Lionel Messi might take the other one, keeping the football duopoly in balance.
Watch Cristiano Ronaldo's crowning moment in 2014 here:
