The 2022 Ballon d’Or Player of the Year award was given to Karim Benzema of Real Madrid on Monday night in Paris.
The forward’s first Ballon d’Or of his career would be this one. The 34-year-old finished yesterday ahead of Kevin De Bruyne, Sadio Mane, and Robert Lewandowski, breaking his previous record of never placing inside the top three.
Zinedine Zidane, a former coach for Real Madrid, presented the prize at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France.
The striker starts out by expressing gratitude and citing Zizou and Ronaldo as role models.
In the 2021–2022 season, Benzema led all scorers for Real Madrid in both the UEFA Champions League and La Liga of Spain.
The names Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo have appeared in 12 of the last 13 champions. However, 2018 saw a break in the predominance, thanks to Croatian midfielder Luka Modric.
Also, Ronaldo was chosen as a finalist this year, while Messi was not. Compared to Messi’s record-setting seven victories, Ronaldo has collected five victories.
