Cristiano Ronaldo laughs off award snub after being left off top 10 list

Stuart Telford

29 Dec 2023 20:36 GMT
5 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal, World Cup 2022 — © ProShots

Cristiano Ronaldo has laughed off an award snub on social media after being overlooked for the IFFHS' best players of 2023 this week.

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Ronaldo has been in fine form for Al-Nassr since joining the Saudi Pro League club in January, hitting 37 goals and 13 assists from 43 games since and winning the Arab Club Champions Cup in August.

But when the International Federation of Football History and Statistics released their top 10 for the calendar year 2023, Ronaldo's international teammate Bernardo Silva was the only Portuguese to make the list.

Bernardo was ranked eighth, with fellow Manchester City man Erling Haaland taking top spot. When the IFFHS posted their top 10 on Instagram, Ronaldo responded with a series of laughing emojis.

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Ronaldo is still valued at €11.2 million by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm despite his 38 years and the fact that he plays in a relative lesser, if nascent, competition in the Saudi Pro League.

Career rival Lionel Messi nonetheless placed third despite swapping Paris Saint-Germain for David Beckham's Inter Miami in August.

Ronaldo was most recently pictured with Conor McGregor at the 'Day of Reckoning' boxing event in Saudi Arabia which saw Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker beat Otto Wallin and Deontay Wilder respectively.

He will return to his day job on Saturday, when Al-Nassr travel to Al-Taawoun in the Saudi Pro League, knowing victory could see them close the gap to Karim Benzema's league leaders Al-Hilal to six points.

Ronaldo has won 34 major trophies in his career, and has won the Ballon d'Or five times, most recently in 2017 when he was still at Real Madrid.