The strong candidates who would win the Ballon d'Or, according to Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo believes that Haaland, Bellingham, and Lamine Yamal have the potential to beat Kylian Mbappé for the Ballon d'Or, as he said on his YouTube channel with Rio Ferdinand: “Haaland, Bellingham, Lamine Yamal, I think this generation has a lot of potential,” he expressed. Although he said that the Frenchman could be the winner in the coming years: “For me, he can be the winner of the Ballon d'Or for the next few years.”

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Cristiano Ronaldo is an authoritative voice when it comes to the Ballon d'Or because he is the second-highest winner in the history of the individual award, only behind Lionel Andrés Messi. The Portuguese star, who was once Messi's greatest competitor, won five Ballon d'Ors throughout his career, while the current Inter Miami player has eight.

What many of us feared is coming true: the end of one of soccer's most iconic eras. After 21 years, neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi was nominated for the Ballon d'Or for the past season. While this was expected given that they are no longer competing at the highest level (Ronaldo now plays for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia and Messi represents Inter Miami in the United States).

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Cristiano Ronaldo remembered his time at Real Madrid and named it the best team in the world

“I am the club's all-time top scorer, I have won cups and I have won everything there. I love Real Madrid,” he began.

He also contradicted those who say that the Spanish team is lucky: “They say that Real Madrid is lucky in the Champions League, but it's not luck, it's mentality. The Santiago Bernabeu has a different aura.”

The Portuguese put Real Madrid at the top of everything: “Real Madrid is the best club ever in history, and I was so happy to play there.”

The 30 candidates to win the Ballon d'Or

• Hakan Çalhanoglu (Inter Milan)

• Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid)

• Rubén Dias (Manchester City)

• Phil Foden (Manchester City)

• Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

• Artem Dovbik (Roma)

• Mats Hummels (Borrussia Dortmund)

• Ademola Lookman (Atalanta)

• Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa)

• Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)

• Martin Ödegaard (Arsenal)

• Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid)

• Lautaro Martínez (Inter Milan)

• Dani Olmo (Barcelona)

• Cole Palmer (Chelsea)

• Declan Rice (Arsenal)

• Rodri (Manchester City)

• Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)

• Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid)

• Antonio Rüdiger (Real Madrid)

• Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)

• William Saliba (Arsenal)

• Federico Valverde (Real Madrid)

• Vitinha (PSG)

• Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao)

• Florian Wirtz (Bayern Leverkusen)

• Granit Xhaka (Bayern Leverkusen)

• Lamine Yamal (Barcelona).