Ronaldo wins Ballon d'Or to equal Messi

Cristiano Ronaldo has equalled Lionel Messi's record of five Ballon d'Or awards after claiming the 2017 prize in Paris.

Ronaldo led Real Madrid to a record 12th Champions League trophy in June, scoring hat-tricks against Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid in the quarter and semi-finals and a double in the 4-1 win over Juventus in the final.

Messi, who recently signed a new contract to stay at Barcelona until 2021, finished runner up for the second consecutive year despite currently outscoring Ronaldo by three goals in the calendar year (52-49).

The world's most expensive player, Neymar, came third for the second time in three years.

N'Golo Kante (eighth) finished highest of the seven Premier League players named in the final 30-player shortlist, with Harry Kane coming 10th.

Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne was placed 14th in the final list, while Chelsea's Eden Hazard (19th) and Manchester United's David De Gea (20th) were just a place apart.

Liverpool pair Sadio Mane (23rd) and Philippe Coutinho (joint-29th) were also in the top 30.

First given in 1956, the coveted Ballon d'Or prize is presented by weekly football magazine France Football. 

Ronaldo was already named FIFA Best Men's Player for a second consecutive year at a separate awards ceremony in October.

Ballon d'Or or FIFA Best?

The Best award was created after FIFA's partnership with France Football ended in 2015. 

The Ballon d'Or is now picked solely by a panel of journalists, while the Best result is a combination of votes from national coaches and players, an online ballot and 200 media representatives.

The forward has recently come under criticism for scoring just two goals in 10 games in the Spanish top flight this season, with Real Madrid eight points behind Barcelona.

Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane called for critics to show more "respect" to Ronaldo, who set yet another Champions League record by scoring in Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday to become the first player to find the net in all six group-stage matches.

Ronaldo is the all-time leading scorer in the Champions League with 115 goals.

Ballon d'Or 2017 final rankings

1 Cristiano Ronaldo

2 Lionel Messi

3 Neymar

4 Gianluigi Buffon

5 Luka Modric

6 Sergio Ramos

7 Kylian Mbappe

8 N'Golo Kante

9 Robert Lewandowski

10 Harry Kane

11 Edinson Cavani

12 Isco

13 Luis Suarez

14 Kevin De Bruyne

15 Paulo Dybala

16 Marcelo

17 Toni Kroos

18 Antoine Griezmann

19 Eden Hazard

20 David De Gea

21 Leonardo Bonucci and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

23 Sadio Mane

24 Radamel Falcao

25 Karim Benzema

26 Jan Oblak

27 Mats Hummels

28 Edin Dzeko

29 Philippe Coutinho and Dries Mertens