JUST IN: Karim Benzema Beats Lewandowski To Win First Ballon d’Or
Karim Benzema has won his first Ballon d’ Or award.
The 2021-2022 Ballon d’Or ceremony was held on October 17 in Paris.
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Barcelona forward Alexia Putellas claimed the women’s Ballon d’Or.
Real Madrid’s Benzema and Putellas were the big favourites to win this year’s Ballon d’Or.
The French man had a tough opposition from Robert Lewandowski of Barcelona.
Other top contenders for the male category were Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Salah.
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The last 13 awards were won by Lionel Messi (7) and Cristiano Ronaldo (5), while Real Madrid’s Luka Modric won one in 2018.
In the 2022 edition, Messi was not nominated, the first time since 2007.
The 2021 Ballon d’Or award was tagged ‘controversial ‘ after Messi was voted the winner ahead of Lewandowski.
Courtois won the Yashin Trophy. He was Madrid’s hero in the Champions League final against Liverpool.
Barcelona’s teenage sensation Gavi won the Kopa trophy.
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The trophy is handed to the best youngster in the game of the last season.
Ballon d’ Or List
- Real Madrid’s Luka Modric was ranked 9th place.
- Vinicius Junior Finished 8th position.
- Ranked at the 10th place for the 2022 Ballon d’Or was Manchester City’s Erling Haaland.
- Tottenham star Son Heung-min finished 11th.
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- Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez was voted 12th; Sebastian Haller was 13th on the list.
- Liverpool midfielder Fabinho and AC Milan star Rafael Leao were equally placed in 14th.
- Virgil van Dijk who nearly won the Ballon d’Or in 2019, finishing second after Lionel Messi was voted 16th.
- Luis Diaz, Dusan Vlahovic and Casemiro all tied in the 17th position.
- Ronaldo was voted 20th, picking up 18 nominations.
- Harry Kane was 21st in the 2022 Ballon d’Or voting.
- Trent Alexander-Arnold, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden were voted 22nd.
- Darwin Nunez, Christopher Nkunku, Joao Cancelo, Antonio Rudiger, Mike Maignan, Joshua Kimmich were voted 25th.
