Why Ronaldo is not in Ballon d'Or list but Saudi Pro League stars Mane and Quinones are
Ronaldo won Saudi title, scored 28 goals but still missed Ballon d'Or list
At 41, perhaps not seeing Cristiano Ronaldo in the top 30 of Ballon d'Or nominations is no longer a massive surprise, especially after him having an average World Cup campaign as well.
The five time winner is not among the nominees despite another prolific season with Al Nassr. Interestingly, two players from the Saudi Pro League have made the cut: Ronaldo's teammate Sadio Mane and Al Qadsiah striker Julian Quinones.
So how did Man and Quinones get in ahead of Ronaldo?
There is actually a strong case for both.
Mane had AFCON on his side
Mane's club numbers were solid. He scored 10 goals and provided six assists in 25 Saudi Pro League appearances, while helping Al Nassr win their first league title since 2019.
But his biggest argument came with Senegal.
Mane was named Player of the Tournament at AFCON after initially helping Senegal win the final, before CAF later overturned the result and awarded the title to Morocco. He finished AFCON with two goals and three assists from seven matches.
That is a major individual award in the same Ballon d'Or assessment period.
Mane started all four of Senegal's matches, registering one assist as they reached the knockout stage before losing 3-2 to Belgium. He did not have huge scoring numbers at the World Cup, but Opta says he created 12 chances from open play for Senegal, more than twice as many as any teammate.
So Mane's case is not simply about what he did in Saudi Arabia. He was an AFCON winning captain (on the pitch, ofcourse), the tournament's best player and a Saudi champion.
Quinones also has a case to make
If the argument is purely about the Saudi Pro League, Quinones actually had a better individual season than Ronaldo.
The Mexico international scored 33 league goals for Al Qadsiah, winning the Golden Boot. Ronaldo finished third with 28.
Quinones also collected a league leading 14 Man of the Match awards and made the Team of the Week 12 times.
Across the entire 2025 to 26 season, L'Equipe lists Quinones with a remarkable 37 goals in 35 matches.
And then came the World Cup.
Quinones scored four goals and provided one assist in five matches for Mexico. One of those goals came against Ecuador in the Round of 32 as Mexico won 2-0 and recorded their first World Cup knockout victory in 40 years.
That gives him quite a resume.
33 Saudi Pro League goals, Golden Boot, 41 goals across the season, four World Cup goals and a part in a historic World Cup run for Mexico.
It is difficult to argue that Quinones did not deserve his nomination.
But Ronaldo's numbers were still remarkable
This is where the debate becomes interesting.
Ronaldo may be 41, but his numbers were certainly not those of a player having a poor season.
He scored 28 goals in the Saudi Pro League, along with five assists according to the league's own season review. His 13 match winning goals were the most in the competition, while nobody attempted more than his 161 shots. He also scored in nine consecutive league matches, the longest scoring streak of the season.
Most importantly, Ronaldo finally won the Saudi Pro League with Al Nassr.
He also scored three goals in five matches at the 2026 World Cup, making him Portugal's leading scorer at the tournament. Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo were both relatively undewhelming and went out to eventual champions Spain without even making the semi finals of the tournament despite being labelled as one of the tournament favourites by everyone before the tournament began.
So Ronaldo's case reads pretty well too:
28 league goals, Saudi Pro League champion and three World Cup goals at the age of 41.
Yet it was not enough to make the final 30
That does not necessarily mean the voters simply ignored the Saudi Pro League. The presence of Mane and Quinones proves otherwise.
Quinones outscored Ronaldo in the same league and then scored four times at the World Cup. Also, Ronaldo's teammate Joao Felix was the Saudi Pro League Player of the Year for the 2025/26 season.
Mane combined the Saudi title with an AFCON triumph and the Player of the Tournament award. Also, Ronaldo has previously won the Golden Boot, just as Quinones did this season, and still failed to make the Ballon d'Or shortlist.
That might annoy him, but there is one important difference: those seasons did not coincide with a World Cup or AFCON year. That might annoy him, but there is one important difference: those seasons did not coincide with a World Cup or AFCON year. Ronaldo did have an incredible Nations League campaign previously, although the competition is still dismissed by many as little more than a glorified friendly tournament.
Ronaldo had another excellent individual season and won Saudi Pro League title. Whatever he is been doing at the twilight of his career is absolutely immense.
But this time, when the 30 names were announced, Mane and Quinones had made it.
