The 2022 Ballon d’Or winners were announced on Monday night at the Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris.
In this year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony, Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema defeated Sadio Mane of Bayern Munich, Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City, and Robert Lewandowski of Barcelona.
In addition, Benzema won the award for being the best scorer in the Champions League, La Liga. Recall that he has initially won the UEFA Player of the Year.
The complete list of winners from the 2022 Ballon d’Or awards event is provided below:
- Men’s Ballon d’Or 2022 – Benzema.
- Kopa trophy (best player under 21) – Barcelona’s Gavi.
- Best Striker of the Year award (the Gerd Müller Award) – Lewandoski
- Women’s Ballon d’Or 2022 – Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas
- Yachine Trophy 2022 – Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois.
- Socrates Prize – Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane.
- Club of the Year award – Manchester City.
Alexia Putellas won the Ballon d’Or Feminin for the second year in a row. While Karim Benzema became the fifth Frenchman to take home the coveted award.
Robert Lewandowski received the Gerd Muller award as the greatest attacker in the world last season, while Thibaut Courtois earned the Yashin Trophy as the season’s top goalkeeper.
Club of the year was won by Manchester City for winning the Premier League and making it to the semi-final stage of the Champions League.
Before now, only five Frenchmen have ever won the Ballon d’Or, and Karim Benzema, 34, is the oldest winner since Stanley Matthews in 1956.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo had shared 12 of the previous 13 Ballon d’Or awards, with Luka Modric of Real Madrid taking home the prize in 2018 as the lone exception. However, Messi was not even shortlisted in this year’s edition of the award.
Sadio Mane of Bayern Munich came in second and Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City came in third.
Since Zinedine Zidane, Benzema is the only French player to have won the trophy. This honor went to Zidane back in 1998.
“It makes me really proud. All the work I did, I never gave up. It was a childhood dream like all kids – the motivation. I had two motivations in my life – Zidane and Ronaldo. I’ve always had this dream in my mind that anything is possible,” Sky Sports quoted Benzema as saying.
“There was a difficult period where I wasn’t in the French team, but I never stopped working hard nor gave up. I always kept my head, concentrated on playing football and I am really proud of my journey here. It was not easy, it was a difficult time. It was hard for my family as well. To be here today, for the first time for me, I’m happy and pleased with my work and I keep going.”
“I want to thank my team-mates, whether it’s Real Madrid or the national team. My coach, thanks to him as well. The Real Madrid president as well.”
“I have a lot of people to thank. It’s an individual prize, but it’s a collective one because everyone has played a role,” he concluded.
