Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded more than double the number of points than his nearest rival in the voting process for this year's Ballon d'Or.

Sports journalists from across the world voted to award Ronaldo his fourth Ballon d'Or in recognition of his remarkable achievements for both Real Madrid and Portugal this year.

Five-time winner Lionel Messi was expected to challenge Ronaldo for the honour but the Real Madrid star cruised to victory with 745 points - 429 ahead of the Barcelona forward.

Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded his fourth Ballon d'Or in Paris on Monday evening

Ronaldo was given more than double the number of voting points than Lionel Messi

173 journalists, each from a separate country, were asked to nominate three players for the Ballon d'Or, with five points being awarded to their first choice, three points to their second choice and one point to their third.

The unusual voting format has already thrown up a number of quirky anomalies.

Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, who finished in eighth place overall, was picked as a first-choice winner by just one journalist working for the Daily Post Newspaper on the tiny Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, according to Get French Football.

The Barcelona forward finished a distant second - 429 points behind his long-time rival

BALLON D'OR FINAL STANDINGS 1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 745 points 2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 316 points 3. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid) 198 points 4. Luis Suarez (Barcelona) 91 points 5. Neymar (Barcelona) 68 points 6. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) 60 points 7. Riyad Mahrez (Leicester) 20 points 8. Jamie Vardy (Leicester) 11 points 9. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Pepe (Real Madrid) 8 points 11. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund) 7 points 12. Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon) 6 points 13. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) 5 points 14. Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Arturo Vidal (Bayern Munich) 4 points 16. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) 3 points 17. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Dimitri Payet (West Ham) 1 point Of France Football's 30-man shortlist, 11 players received no votes. They were: Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne, Paulo Dybala, Diego Godin, Gonzalo Higuain, Andres Iniesta, Koke, Hugo Lloris, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and Sergio Ramos Advertisement

The Foxes striker said it was a 'proud moment' for him to be voted as one of the world's best players.

Vardy was one of the two Leicester players, the other being Riyad Mahrez, to be nominated for the award following the club's historic Premier League triumph last season.

Mahrez, who won the BBC's African Player of the Year award earlier on Monday, finished as the highest ranked Premier League player in seventh, with the top six places all taken up by La Liga players.

Leicester's Jamie Vardy was picked as a first-choice winner by just one journalist from Vanuatu

Vardy took to Twitter to say thanks and reveal his pride at where he finished in the voting

Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann was tipped to challenge Ronaldo and Messi for the Ballon d'Or but the France international fell way short in the final count, with just 178 voting points.