The 2025 Ballon d’Or award ceremony in Paris ended with Ousmane Dembele’s remarkable victory, but what fans talked about the most was Cristiano Ronaldo’s mysterious “disappearance” in the video honoring the legends. 

As usual, France Football will release a video introducing the names that have made history in this prestigious award before announcing the year’s titles. At the 2025 Golden Ball Gala , the audience can easily recognize the familiar images of Ronaldinho, Kaka, Zinedine Zidane and especially Lionel Messi, who was shown many times. But Ronaldo, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and Messi’s biggest rival for more than a decade, was completely absent. This omission quickly sparked a wave of outrage on social media.

Many fans believe that this is not just a technical error, but an act of “disrespect” for the 40-year-old star. “A blatant lack of respect”, one account commented. 

Another person was indignant: “I can’t believe they removed one of the greatest players in history just to honor Messi.” The comparison between the two icons thus became even more heated, especially when Messi was constantly favored to appear in the video.

Although neither Messi nor Ronaldo were nominated this year, the omission of a five-time winner from the tribute section has raised questions about how France Football treats football icons. 

Many fans believe that the organizers are secretly changing their views, affecting the historical value of the award.

So far, France Football has not given any explanation for this incident. However, for many Ronaldo fans, this has been a big shock, raising doubts about the fairness and objectivity of the award that was once considered the highest standard of world football.