Ronaldo sells Ballon d'Or trophy

Cristiano Ronaldo has sold his 2013 Ballon d’Or trophy, raising over half a million pounds for charity in the process.

The Portuguese donated the trophy to a London auction, where it was sold for a whopping £530,000.

The money raised will go towards the Make-A-Wish-Foundation, a charity which tries to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions or terminal illnesses.

Ronaldo sells Ballon d'Or trophy — Ronaldo cut an emotional figure after winning the Ballon d’Or in 2013 as it ended a run of four consecutive years that rival Lionel Messi had collected the prestigious prize

Spanish publication ‘Marca’ reports that the award was snapped up by Idan Ofer, better known as Israel’s richest man.

Whilst Ronaldo may not be considered to be the most generous person on the pitch, his charity work off it cannot be criticised.

The Ballon d’Or is the greatest personal accolade in football and for Ronaldo to give it up for such a good cause is a measure of the man.

The event raised £2.7m for the Foundation – nearly doubling the original fundraising target of £1.5m.

Ronaldo is a long-term supporter of Make-A-Wish, donating funds and granting wishes to seriously ill children across the world, and specifically asked for the replica of his 2013 award to be donated to auction raising funds for the UK charity.

The 2013 award had huge personal significance for the Portuguese too, with it marking the year that he finally broke Lionel Messi’s dominance, after the Argentine had claimed the gong in each of the previous four years.

The Portugal international has won the award four times in all, having also collected the accolade in 2008, 2014 and 2016.

Ronaldo has been gearing up with Portugal ahead of two crucial World Cup qualifiers, where his side take on Andorra on Saturday before facing Group B leaders Switzerland in their final game next week.