Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema Wins 2022 Ballon d’Or

Sadio Mane and Kevin De Bruyne finished in second and third places. The 66th Ballon d’Or awards for the first time were based on the course of a season rather than a calendar year.

who received his award from Zidane said:

"This makes me really proud, all the work I did, I never gave up.

"I had two role models in my life, Zidane and Ronaldo as well. I always had this dream in my mind that everything's possible. There was a difficult period where I wasn't in the French team but I worked hard and never gave up, kept my head down and enjoyed playing football.

"I'm really proud of my journey here, it wasn't easy, it was difficult, for me and my family. To be here today, the first time for me. I am just really, really happy, thanks to my teammates, with Real Madrid and the national team."

The 34-year-old Benzema helped

to win both La Liga and the Champions League last season. Benzema scored 44 goals in 46 appearances during the 2021-2022 season. He also scored 15 goals in the Champions League including hat-tricks against PSG and Chelsea in the knockout-stage. Benzema won the UEFA player of the year in the summer.

The Ballon d'Or 2022 award ceremony took place at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on Monday night. The Ballon d'Or Feminin, the Kopa Trophy, and the Yashin Trophy were awarded tonight in Paris. Barcelona's Alexia Putellas won the Women's Ballon d'Or for the second year in a row, Barcelona's Gavi won the Kopa Trophy, and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois also won the Yachin trophy. Robert Lewandowski also won the best striker of the year award.

Benzema is the fifth French winner overall and the first French player to win the Ballon d'Or since Zinedine Zidane in 1998. Messi or Ronaldo have won the Ballon d’Or 12 of the 13 times in the last 14 years but Messi was not in the 30-man nominations list for the first time since 2005 and Ronaldo this year finished in 20th place.

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