Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d’Or five times. But one of his awards was sold at a charity auction in 2017 to Israel’s richest man. Ronaldo‘s 2013 Ballon d’Or was auctioned off to Idan Ofer. Ofer is Israel’s richest man, at a charity auction in London in 2017.
Cristiano Ronaldo won the top individual award five times, the first in 2008 while still on Manchester United’s books and the other four times as a Real Madrid player. The 2013 competition was one of the closest, with the Portugal star coming out on top over Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery.
Ronaldo chose to donate the award to charity following the ceremony. It was eventually auctioned off to raise funds for the Make-A-Wish foundation, with Ofer winning with a bid of €600,000.
Ronaldo specifically requested that an extra replica of his 2013 award be auctioned off for charity, with ESPN reporting that the real award remained on display at his Madeira museum. The six-figure sum was donated to a children’s charity that grants wishes to children suffering from critical illnesses.
Several other items were also auctioned off at the London event. These included a €30,000 meet-and-greet with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho.
Ofer who came up with the winning bid for Ronaldo’s trophy, is worth a reported US$9.9 billion (£8.1 billion). He owns shares in two football clubs, having invested in Atletico Madrid later in 2017. Later, becoming majority owner of Famalicao in Portugal.
Cristiano Ronaldo himself did not attend the auction. Instead, it was up to Jorge Mendes, his agent at the time, to present Ofer with his prize.
More about Cristiano Ronaldo
The forward won the Ballon d’Or in 2013 after scoring 55 goals in as many games for Real Madrid. But he went home empty-handed as Bayern Munich won the Champions League and Barcelona won the Spanish title.
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