2008 Ballon d'Or

Rare card · No. 41272

The 2008 Ballon d'Or (lit. '2008 Golden Ball'), given to the best football player in the world as judged by an international panel of sports journalists, was awarded on 2 December 2008. Cristiano Ronaldo won the award, being his first of five. His win also began a 10-year dominance of the award between him and Lionel Messi — which eventually led to an intense rivalry between the two. Both players had won five Ballon d'Or awards before the dominance was ended in 2018 by Luka Modrić.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Gordon Flood from Trim, Ireland, CC BY 2.0