Ronaldo, considered the favourite to win FIFA’s best player of the year award in January, received 40 percent of the votes.
The captain of the Portuguese national team who recently won his fourth Ballon D’Or award, received a significantly larger number of votes than his two closest rivals, Jamaican star sprinter Usain Bolt and US swimmer Michael Phelps.
The Jamaican sprinter received 25 percent of the votes and the US swimmer received 12 percent.
This comes after Cristiano Ronaldo rejected an offer of an annual pay check of €100 million made by a Chinese team, which also offered €300 million for his transfer fee, Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes has said.
Mendes made the statements in a an interview with Italian sports television channel Sky Sport Itália.
“An offer from China of €300 million arrived at Real Madrid and another €100 million per year for the player,” Mendes said, without naming the club.
“But money isn’t everything. Real Madrid is his life. Cristiano is happy at Real Madrid and it is impossible for him to go to China,” he added.
Mendes also said that China is a “new market” that could attract “a lot of players” but that in the Portuguese star’s case that was “impossible.”
“Cristiano is the best football player in the world and the best ever. It is normal for him to get offers,” he said.
Argentina’s Carlos Tevez became the world’s highest paid player late last year after signing a two-year contract with football club Shanghai Shenhua worth US$80 million, according to unofficial figures reported by the press.