Cristiano Ronaldo beat Lionel Messi to win the inaugural BOAT award for the 2008 season at Manchester United

Cristiano Ronaldo (AP/PTI) Cristiano Ronaldo has been named the inaugural winner of the BOAT (Ballon d’Or of All Time) and his 2008 Manchester United campaign was voted by fans as the greatest individual season in the history of football’s most prestigious individual award.Presented by France Football, the award was designed to spark debate over which Ballon d’Or winning campaign deserves to be considered the greatest of all time. Ronaldo came out on top after a fan-driven vote, beating long-time rival Lionel Messi with flying colours.Fans preferred Ronaldo’s first season, when he won the Ballon d’Or in 2008, to Messi’s remarkable calendar year of 2012 with 91 goals, a record that still stands.Unlike the traditional Ballon d’Or, where the winner is determined by an international jury of prominent journalists, the BOAT award allowed fans to vote digitally. Some of football’s most famous names were on the ballot, including Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini, Marc van Basten, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Kevin Keegan and Franz Beckenbauer. Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano or Brazilian great Ronaldo Nazario were also among the nominees.The voting process required participants to pay one euro, with organizers offering an additional incentive by entering voters into a draw for two tickets to the Ballon d’Or ceremony in 2027.The initiative aroused considerable interest, thousands of people participated in the competition. More than 5,000 individuals voted multiple times to help their preferred player or campaign come out on top.Ronaldo and Messi dominated the final standings, occupying the first 12 positions between them. The streak was broken in 13th by Brazil’s Ronaldo Nazario, whose 2002 Ballon d’Or campaign was the next highest-rated season outside the pair.Ronaldo’s victory adds another chapter to his long-running rivalry with Messi, with fans now giving their verdict on which of their outstanding Ballon d’Or-winning campaigns deserves the highest accolade.