Real Madrid and Portugal captain Ronaldo, beat Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann to the prize.
Cristiano Ronaldo received just under 35 percent of the vote, while second-placed Messi had a 26 percent share.
Portugal national football coach Fernando Santos was elected the third-best manager in a tightly-contested ballot, behind winner Claudio Raneiri who guided Leicester City to an unlikely Premier League title last season.
In an interview published on the FIFA website the day after he scooped his Best Player win, Ronaldo said 2016 had been the best year of his life since he started playing football and the highlight was winning the Euro with the Portuguese national team.
“It was the highlight of my career. I don’t want to play down other trophies, but it was special because it was the first ever title for Portugal,” he said.
He added that one of his dreams for this year is to lead the Portuguese national team in winning the FIFA Confederations Cup. However, the athlete said he believes it will be “a difficult achievement.”
“It will be the first time that Portugal competes at the Confederations Cup and it will be fantastic. Obviously, I dream of winning that trophy, but we all know it will be difficult. We will be facing great teams, but anything can happen in football,” said Ronaldo in the interview.
The day after winning the world’s best player award, the Portuguese captain recalled the final of Euro2016 and said he had been “very nervous” during the game, particularly after he was substituted due to injury in the first half.
“I think my behaviour speaks for itself. The camera doesn’t lie. People could see I was very nervous. It was a glorious day for Portugal,” Ronaldo said, adding that he planned to continue his career as a manager after “hanging up his boots.”