Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or award for the fourth time in his career.

This follows a historic year for the player in which he helped claim the European Championship and Champions League titles for Portugal and Real Madrid respectively.

Ronaldo is now one short of his La Liga rival Lionel Messi's record tally of five.

The 31-year-old topped the poll of 173 journalists worldwide.

Ronaldo played a crucial role as Real beat city rivals Atletico Madrid in May to become European champions for a record-extending 11th time.

Then, two months later, Portugal triumphed at Euro 2016 in France to claim a major trophy for the first time - despite losing their talisman to injury early on in the final.

Ronaldo, who has so far scored 48 goals in 52 games for club and country during 2016, was not able to accept the award in person with the forward currently away in Japan as Real Madrid prepare for the FIFA Club World Cup.

The forward has previously won the Ballon d'Or three times, the last in 2014 when it had been merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year accolade.

"For me it's a great honour to receive my fourth golden ball. The emotion is like for the first one, it's a dream come true again. I never thought in my mind to win four times. I'm so happy," said Ronaldo, who won the award in 2008, 2013 and 2014.

"I take the opportunity to thank all my team mates, from the national team and for Real Madrid. I feel so proud and happy."

Ronaldo in numbers:

4 - Ronaldo's Ballon d'Or wins, in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2016. He has eight nominations in total.

137 - number of international caps for Portugal.

68 - the number of international goals for his national side.

4 - Ronaldo this summer became the first player to score at four different European Championships (2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016).

Ronaldo made history as he helped lead Portugal to victory at Euro 2016 in France (Getty)

80 - the millions of pounds that Real Madrid paid Manchester United for his services in 2009.

17 - record number of goals scored in the Champions League for one season (2014).

270 - the number of goals he has scored for Real Madrid in 248 LaLiga appearances since joining them in 2009.

9 - goals in total in European Championship finals matches, putting him level with Michel Platini as the competition's all-time leading goalscorer.

14.1 - the millions of pounds he is reported to earn each year from his boot sponsorship with Nike.

48,756,584 - number of Twitter followers.