Cristiano Ronaldo has won five Ballon d’Ors in his sparkling career but elected to sell one of his replica trophies back in 2017.
Typically, those who have had the honour of winning the Ballon d’Or hand over the replica version to the club they won it playing for.
Or alternatively, it ends up in their own personal trophy collection or museum. But when it comes to his 2013 Ballon d’Or, Ronaldo asked for it to donated it to charity, as per MARCA.
It went to auction, with all the proceeds going to Make-A-Wish, the charity which helps children suffering from serious illnesses.
The event took place in London and Idan Ofer, Israel’s richest person, won the prize with a whopping €600,000 winning bid.
He posed with the gold trophy alongside Ronaldo’s long-time representative Jorge Mendes.
Also up for grabs at the same auction was a meet and greet with legendary managers Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho at a boxing event in Manchester, with €30,000 being forked out for that prize.
Auctions for Ballon d’Ors aren’t too common although the silverware and memorabilia collected by Real Madrid legend Alfredo di Stefano did sell for a lot back in 2021.
His 1957 Ballon d’Or went for £60,800, with his second, picked up two years later, selling for £54,400. The rare ‘Super Ballon d’Or’, only held by Di Stefano, commanded a winning bid of £187,500.
Ronaldo’s last Ballon d’Or came in 2017 and Lionel Messi has pulled away in the duel, with seven Ballon d’Ors to his name.
However, organisers France Football have acknowledged that the late, great Pele, is actually level with Messi after doing an “international re-evaluation”.
Pele, a three-time World Cup winner, never played in Europe and so was never eligible for the award. He spent the majority of his career scoring goals aplenty for Santos, before joining New York Cosmos in the United States.
source: sportbible.com
