Ballon d'Or champion Cristiano Ronaldo has been named the European Sportsperson of 2016.

The Portugal captain recently capped off an extraordinary 12 months by helping Real Madrid win the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, having also claimed the Champions League and European Championship earlier in the year.

The award, voted for by 27 Euro media agencies, looked at the social media interactions of top athletes from around the world, and Ronaldo leads the pack, according to social analytics.

He becomes the first footballer to win the accolade, which was launched 59 years ago by Polska Agencja Prasowa (PAP).

The 27 agencies that voted for the prize are: EFE (Spain), AFP (France), Agerpres (Romanía), ANP (Netherlands), APA (Austria), ATA (Albania), Belge (Bélgium), Belta (Belarus), BTA (Bulgaria), CTK ( Czech Republic), DPA (Germany), ELTA (Lithuania), FENA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), HINA (Croatia), LETA (Latvia), LUSA (Portugal), Moldpres (Moldavia), MTI (Hungary) SDA-ATS (Switzerland), SID (Germany), SHGSK (Kosovo), STA (Slovenia), SITA (Slovakia), TASS (Russia), Tanjug (Serbia), Ukrinform (Ukraine) y PAP (Poland)