The Stardom Magazine | Debut Issue 43
CRISTIANO RONALDO
The date 13 January 2014 will live long in the memory of Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese international attending the FIFA Ballon d’Or ceremony in Zurich in the company of
his family, his girlfriend and his son - fully convinced that it would be his night.
Despite this fervent belief, however, the Real Madrid attacker surprised the world by
weeping uncontrollably and finding words hard to come by when taking to the stage to
receive his award. That was, even for those who follow him on a daily basis, an unexpected
initial reaction to being handed the FIFA Ballon d’Or for 2013.
The Madeira-born superstar thus edged out Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery to claim the
award for a second time after his maiden triumph in 2008. Having had the opportunity to
compose himself, he then shared his feelings with FIFA.com.
“Finding out I’d won made me extremely happy, I felt very proud,” said Los Blancos’ main
man, on the first thoughts that went through his head after Pele had announced he was
the latest winner of the coveted prize. “You need to work really hard to win a trophy of
this magnitude,” he added, while highlighti