Beating out seasoned footballers like Lionel Messi and Manuel Neuer yet again, Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or world footballer of the year award for the second time in a row.

Ronaldo, the Portugal Captain despite having disappointed fans in the World Cup, in which Portugal lost the race in the very first round, seems to have won the hearts of the fans either way.

The FIFA Ballon d-Or, which is an annual football award given to the best footballer in the previous calendar year, gets from the national team coaches and captains, as well as journalists from around the world. For this year, 181 national football associations voted in the global poll, while 27 countries did not return any nominations.

Ronaldo managed to get 37.66 percent of the votes compared to Messi, who finished in the second spot with 15.76 per cent and Manuel Neuer, Germany's World Cup-winning goalkeeper, who finished third.

The award has turned into a battle between the top contenders, Ronaldo and Messi for years. Messi won the award for four times in a row from 2009 to 2012, while Ronaldo finished second in those years.

Speaking on the occasion, Ronaldo said, "I never thought that I would bring this trophy back home on three occasions and I want to win it again. I want to become one of the greatest players of all time," according to Reuters.

While Ronaldo seems to be celebrating his victory, in other news, the Irish Football Association claims to have not sent the ballots on time. Northern Ireland's captain and coach did not get a vote in the Ballon d'Or poll as the original documents were not received on time.

Journalist Jackie Fullerton, who voted for Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of Thomas Muller and Lionel Messi, was the sole Northern Irish representative, according to the BBC.