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#4 The World Cup
The FIFA World Cup is regarded as the biggest stage in football and there is no doubt it is having a great influence on the Ballon d'Or race at the moment - with many superstars emerging as strong contenders for the award by virtue of their fantastic performances in the competition.
The tournament presented itself as a golden opportunity for many superstars to climb the ladder to the top but quite unfortunately, Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo couldn't make the most of this massive privilege.
The attacker raised the expectations before him by scoring in his first 2 games in Russia, including a hat-trick for Portugal in their opening fixture against Spain but he failed to keep up with such level of impact as he could only watch as the European champions were sent packing from the competition in the Round of 16.
With other contenders having better outings in the World Cup and helping their nations into the latter stages of the tournament, Ronaldo could end up missing out on the Ballon d'Or award this year as a result of this reason.
