Cristiano Ronaldo Wins Multilple Awards But Not For Soccer

Lionel Messi may have won the Ballon d’Or 2019 trophy, but Cristiano Ronaldo copped multiple awards outside of soccer.

Ahead of the announcement of the winner of Ballon d’Or 2019 award, Ronaldo has presented a strong case to win the trophy. However, “CR7” came up short and his longtime soccer rival Messi was hailed best individual player for the sixth time around. Nevertheless, Ronaldo still earned a couple of recognition this year as one of his ad campaigns won multiple awards in Asia.

The SportQuake agency’s campaign for Asian e-commerce platform Shopee featuring a dancing Ronaldo was among the winners at the SPIA Asia 2019 sports industry awards, Sport Business reported.

The Shopee-Ronaldo television commercial provoked amusement around the world due to the footballer’s dance moves, and resulted in a large reach for the campaign. It won the Best Brand Activation of the Year category at SPIA, and came second in the Best Sponsorship of a Sport, Team, Individual or Event in Asia ($500,000 and above).

While the recognition may have nothing to do with Ronaldo’s personal achievements in soccer, this just goes to show that the legendary striker is indeed an influential figure in sports. Looking at his stellar career, Ronaldo is still on the verge of winning awards in the future.

As for his nemesis Messi, the Ballon d’Or award is definitely the most prestigious award given to an individual player and everytime a player wins it, he truly deserved it. In fact, Messi even insisted that Ronaldo deserved every Ballon d’Or trophy he won in the past.

“When Cristiano Ronaldo won it is because he had achieved great seasons by winning the Champions League and being decisive. It was deserved, there was not much I could do,” Messi told France Football.

Upon receiving the 2019 Ballon d’Or trophy, Messi cleared the air and stated that people have the right to choose who the best individual player is. He also noted that he has no issues with people who prefer Ronaldo, Neymar or Kylian Mbappe over him.

“It is also down to individual taste. Some prefer Cristiano, others myself or Neymar or (Kylian) Mbappe. People have the right to choose the one they like most,” Messi emphasized.

It has been a about a week ago since Messi earned his sixth Ballon d’Or award. However, some fans are still buzzing about it and some even think Ronaldo should have won the honorable trophy.