Cristiano Ronaldo has been officially crowned the 2016 Ballon d’Or winner for 2016 after a stellar performance in the year under review.

The Real Madrid star defeated Lionel Messi and France’s Antoine Griezman to pick up his fourth award after initially winning in 2008, 2013 and 2014.

With the award on Monday night, Ronaldo is presently trailing Messi who has won the individual prize a record five times.

Many believe Ronaldo deserves the award after his Champions League triumph with Real Madrid and the European Championship with Portugal, their first-ever title by the country.

After winning the award, he said: “It is a special moment. It means that all my sacrifice was worth it. I feel very happy to win this. I worked very hard.

“A lot of people helped me get here, and it is not easy to get here. You can count on one hand players who maintain this level year after year. I am one of them, and that is a source of pride for me.”