Cristiano Ronaldo is winning a Ballon d’Or race Lionel Messi was supposed to make interesting.

The Portuguese forward’s 2008 campaign at Manchester United has pulled a commanding 62% of the vote in the Ballon d’Or Of All Time poll, with Messi’s record-breaking 2012 season a distant second on 13%.

The B.O.A.T. is a one-off prize launched by France Football to mark the award’s 70th anniversary, with fans asked to pick the single greatest year any multiple Ballon d’Or winner has produced since 1956.

€1 a ballot, and you can vote as many times as you like

Each vote on the official Ballon d’Or site costs €1, with no cap on how many times a fan can take part.

Read also: Manchester City handed lifeline as Premier League’s punishment plans face serious obstacle

Voting closes at midnight Paris time on 27 October, with the result expected the following day. Only players who have won the Ballon d’Or more than once are eligible, and each of their winning years is on the ballot individually.

The ten names on the shortlist are Messi, Ronaldo, Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Ronaldo Nazário, Franz Beckenbauer, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Kevin Keegan. Messi’s eight winning seasons and Ronaldo’s five dominate the ballot by sheer volume alone.

Messi’s 91-goal year sits second to a Ronaldo landslide

The vote premise suits Messi’s 2012 on paper. That is the year he scored 91 goals in a calendar year, a figure no one has come near before or since.

Ronaldo’s 2008 is the season he lifted the Premier League and the Champions League with Manchester United, finishing as the continent’s top scorer. It is pulling almost five times Messi’s share of the poll.

Read also: UK accounting watchdog quietly takes over Manchester City audit case

Messi is on Monday’s main shortlist. Ronaldo is not

The B.O.A.T. is being decided alongside the main 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony, which moves to the London Palladium on Monday, 26 October. It is the first time the gala has been staged outside Paris, a nod to Sir Stanley Matthews, the award’s inaugural winner in 1956.

Messi is one of the 30 names on the men’s shortlist for the main prize, listed as an Inter Miami player alongside Ousmane Dembélé, Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane. Ronaldo was left off that list entirely.

The B.O.A.T. result is scheduled to drop on 28 October, two days after the Palladium ceremony.

Read also: Yamal vs Kane: Major divide splits Ballon d’Or race ahead of London ceremony