FIFA was accused of fraud after giving 'most controversial' Ballon d'Or to Cristiano Ronaldo

A football manager once accused FIFA of committing fraud after Cristiano Ronaldo controversially won the 2013 Ballon d'Or.

With a career that has seen him win 36 trophies and score 938 goals for club and country, it comes as no surprise that Ronaldo is the player with the second-most Ballon d'Or awards.

Across his career, the Portuguese striker has won the Ballon d'Or on five occasions, with only rival Lionel Messi, who boasts eight awards, taking it home on more occasions.

Although most of the time that he was given the award, there were no arguments against Ronaldo, not all of Ronaldo's Ballon d'Or wins are completely free of controversy.

In fact, after he won his second Ballon d'Or in 2013, one manager even came out to accuse FIFA of fraud after official records changed his vote.

Cristiano Ronaldo controversially won the 2013 Ballon d'Or. (Image: Getty)

Ahead of the 2013 Ballon d'Or ceremony in January 2014, the deadline to vote for the award was originally set for November 15 before being pushed back two weeks due to a lack of “eligible voters”.

In this period, Ronaldo scored dramatic hat-trick which secured Portugal's qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, leading to UEFA president Michel Platini joking that FIFA extended the deadline “to please” Ronaldo.

Of course, the striker went on to win the award ahead of Messi and Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery, and not everybody was happy.

Just days after the ceremony, coaches from Bolivia, Albania, Equatorial Guinea, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Kuwait and Vanuatu claimed that the voting was rigged.

After Ronaldo's win, Kuwait manager Jorvan Vieira revealed that he had voted for Zlatan Ibrahimovic despite FIFA official records showing he had votes for Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo.

Speaking to Catalan outlet La Xarxa, he said : "I think there has been a fraud here, I voted for Ibrahimovic."

Franck Ribery feels that he should have won the 2013 Ballon d'Or. (Image: Getty)

Frank Ribery speaks out of 2013 Ballon d'Or controversy

Despite winning the treble with Bayern Munich and the UEFA Player of the Year award in 2013, Ribery only finished third in the Ballon d'Or rankings, a decision that appears to continue to bother him today.

Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Spor earlier this year, he claimed: "It was an incredible season for me, and I should have won it.

"They extended the time for votes, and something strange happened. I felt that it was a political choice."