Cristiano Ronaldo will be present at the Ballon d’or ceremony next Monday (October 17) at the Theater du Chatelet in Paris, but with an unexpected role.
Winner for a full 5 times and after a few months of trouble with his Manchester United, the Portuguese is not in the running for the trophy this year, but Le Parisien has announced that he will still participate in the ceremony and hand over the award to the winner, who may be a former teammate. Among the main favorites is Karim Benzmea, the striker of France and Real Madrid, with whom Ronaldo played in Spain with Los Blancos. One of Benzema’s rivals will be his compatriot Kylian Mbappe, who has come out against his club and his presence at the ceremony is still uncertain according to Le Parisien.
If the prestigious award is won by one of these two, it would be the first Frenchman to do so since 1998,
when the one who triumphed was Zinedine Zidane.