Cristiano Ronaldo listed in TIME Magazine's '100 Most Influential People'

Pele with Cristiano Ronaldo when the latter won the Ballon d’Or this year

FIFA Ballon d’Or 2013 winner Cristiano Ronaldo has made his way into American weekly magazine TIME’s ’100 Most Influential People in the World’.

An annual key feature in the magazine since 1999, the latest list included global figures such as Pope Francis, Barack Obama and pop icon Beyoncé. Only a handful of athletes joined Ronaldo on the illustrious list. They were Brooklyn Nets star Jason Collins, Seattle Seahawks SuperBowl champion Richard Sherman, Tennis virtuoso Serena Williams and golf pro Lydia Ko.

On the magazine page featuring Ronaldo, Brazilian football legend Pele lauded the Portuguese.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most influential athletes in sports today. I greatly respect his competitive mind-set on the field, and it’s no surprise that he is currently considered the best soccer player in the world. He reminds me a bit of my late friend and Portuguese soccer legend Eusebio”.

“I had the opportunity to share his joy onstage at this year’s FIFA Ballon d’Or ceremony in Zurich. Cristiano never ceases to give his best for his national team. He reminds me a bit of my late friend and Portuguese soccer legend Eusébio. They have the same elegance and creativity.”

“Back when I played, I would have loved having a teammate like Cristiano to play with up front. I would like to encourage him to keep up the hard work and to continue to fuel the passion for the sport among today’s youth.”

Currently, Ronaldo is the only Real Madrid player in history to have scored more than 30 goals in four consecutive seasons. He is also the fastest player to have reached 100 goals with the Spanish side.