FIFA BALLON D'OR: And The Winner Is...Cristiano Ronaldo!

Cristiano Ronaldo

Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the second year running and the third overall on Monday after a prolific, trophy-filled year with Real Madrid.

He was voted ahead of Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi, his bitter rival, and Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the annual poll run jointly by soccer's governing body and France Football magazine.

Reuters reports Ronaldo netted 51 goals in 47 appearances last season as Real secured a record-extending 10th Champions League title and won the King's Cup.

His tally included 17 goals in the Champions League, a record for a single edition of a Europe's elite club competition

Since then, he has added the Club World Cup title to his collection, has scored a stunning 26 goals in 17 La Liga matches and looks set to looks set to smash the biggest total for a season in Spain's top flight of 50 scored by Messi in 2011-12.

All that was enough to overlook a disappointing World Cup where Portugal went out in the first round and Ronaldo mustered only one goal. However, he still became Portugal's all-time leading scorer and his goal haul for his country stands at 52 in 117 appearances.

Messi, by contrast, inspired Argentina as they reached the World Cup final, where they lost to Neuer's Germany.

Ronaldo first won the award in 2008, when it was run solely by FIFA, and he finished ahead of Messi.

Messi won the award four times in a row from 2009 to 2012, with Ronaldo finishing as runner-up on three occasions, before the Portuguese reversed the trend last year.

Joachim Loew was voted Coach of the Year after leading Germany to the World Cup title in Brazil. He finished ahead of Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti and Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone in the poll. Factbox on Real Madrid and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the FIFA Ballon D'Or award on Monday.

EARLY DAYS

• Born: Feb. 5 1985 in Funchal, Madeira.
• Played youth football at Nacional before joining Sporting Lisbon in 2002, arch-rivals to his boyhood favourites Benfica.

MANCHESTER UNITED

• United manager Alex Ferguson signs an 18-year-old Ronaldo for just over 12 million pounds (US$19.4 million) in August 2003 after an outstanding performance against United in a pre-season friendly in Lisbon.
• Named United's 2003-04 Player of the Year in his debut season and secures an FA Cup winners medal.
• Scores debut Champions League goal against Debrecen in qualifying for the 2005-06 edition.
• United claim the 2006-07 Premier League title and Ronaldo is named Footballer of the Year in England and Portugal. Runner-up to Kaka as European Footballer of the Year and third in FIFA World Player of the Year.
• Scores first Champions League goals in the main competition with a double in a 7-1 thrashing of AS Roma.
• United claim a Premier League and Champions League double in 2007-08, Ronaldo finishing as Europe's top goal scorer with 42 goals and winning several domestic awards including England's player of the season.
• Voted World Player of the Year having already become only the third Portuguese to win Europe's Ballon d'Or award following Eusebio in 1965 and Luis Figo in 2000.
• In 2008-09 helps United to the Premier League title, League Cup, Club World Cup and Champions League final, which they lose 2-0 to Barcelona.
• Scored 118 goals in 292 appearances for United.

REAL MADRID

• Became the world's most expensive player when he signed for Real for a fee of 80 million pounds in 2009.
• Nets 26 goals in 29 La Liga appearances in 2009-10 and seven in six Champions League outings but Real finish the season without major silverware and coach Manuel Pellegrini is sacked and replaced by Ronaldo's compatriot Jose Mourinho.
• Scores a Spanish record 40 goals in 34 games in 2010-11 and nets a superb header to win the King's Cup final against Barcelona.
• Increases his best tally for a single La Liga season to 46 goals in 38 games in 2011-12 but is surpassed by Barca forward Lionel Messi, who scores 50 in 37 games. Real win La Liga.
• Has a poor season by his standards in 2012-13 and Real fail to win major silverware, prompting Mourinho's exit.
• Scores a single-season record 17 goals in the Champions League in 2013-14 as Real secure a 10th European title. Ronaldo nets a penalty in the final in the 4-1 victory over Atletico Madrid after extra time.
• Wins the Club World Cup as Real Madrid beat San Lorenzo 2-0 in the final.
• Named World Player of the Year in 2008, 2013 and 2014.

PORTUGAL

• Makes Portugal debut in 1-0 friendly win over Kazakhstan in August 2003.
• Helps Portugal to runners-up spot at the 2004 European championship.
• Plays a controversial role in the sending-off of England's Wayne Rooney, his Manchester United team mate, in the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals. Television cameras catch him winking at the bench as Rooney was sent off.
• Portugal are eliminated from the 2010 World Cup by Spain in the last 16 and Ronaldo spits at a television cameraman as he walks off the pitch.
• Helps Portugal to the semi-finals of Euro 2012, where they are again knocked out by the Spanish, this time on penalties. Ronaldo doesn't get to take a spot kick due to earlier misses by his team mates.
• Suffers disappointment as Portugal go out in the group stage at the 2014 World Cup.
• Overtakes Pauleta's tally of 47 goals in March 2014 to become Portugal's record scorer. Has netted 52 goals in 117 appearances for his country. (Reuters Factbox)