However, it looks likely Roy Hodgson won’t be on Ronaldo’s Christmas card list after the England manager completely ignored him in voting.
That wasn’t the case for Australian coach Ange Postecoglou, who gave Ronaldo a top rating of five votes ahead of Lionel Messi (three votes) and Manuel Neuer (one).
Australian skipper Mile Jedinak also opted for Ronaldo with his five votes, ahead of another Real Madrid player in Toni Kroos and Manchester City’s Yaya Toure, a player Jedinak would have faced in the flesh during the course of the Premier League season.
It was interesting that no player from the Spanish, Dutch or Chilean sides – teams the Socceroos faced at the World Cup – were voted for by Postecoglou and Jedinak.
Hodgson, though, wasn’t interested in the Ronaldo/Messi double act at the Ballon d’Or, the England boss using his five votes on defensive midfielder Javier Mascherano, with his other votes going to Philipp Lahm and Manuel Neuer.
Hodgson wasn’t the only boss to go with Mascherano as his top pick, though, with Belarus coach Andrei Zygmantovich also selecting him.
Hodgson and Zygmantovich were two of 17 coaches who did not include Ronaldo or Messi in their top three, with five of those not having Neuer either.
Although he didn’t have Mascherano in his top three, Australian media pundit Craig Foster shared much of Hodgson’s viewpoint, the SBS man selecting Neuer for his five votes ahead of Ronaldo and Lahm.
The FIFA Team Of The Year also provoked some mixed debate, seeing as it included Brazil defender David Luiz who was part of a back four that conceded 10 goals at the World Cup.
Although he didn’t win any trophies in 2014 Spanish playmaker Andres Iniesta was included in this side, possibly at the expense of German forward Thomas Muller, who not only won three trophies last year – including the World Cup – but was the second-highest goalscorer in Brazil.