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Karim Benzema has won the Ballon d’Or 2022. The award is given to the best footballer based on performance.
The Real Madrid and France forward won the award for the first time after scoring 44 goals in 46 games.
Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane, who was at Liverpool in 2021-22, was second ahead of Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne.
Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas retained the Women’s Ballon d’Or, awarded to the best best female footballer of 2022.
England Euro 2022 winner and Arsenal forward Beth Mead was second.
Premier League champions Manchester City were awarded Club of the Year ahead of Liverpool FC.
Benzema is the first Frenchman to win the prestigious award since Zinedine Zidane in 1998, who was at the event to present his countryman with the prize.
Benzema said “This prize in front of me makes me really proud. When I was small, it was a childhood dream, I never gave up. Anything is possible.”
“I’m really proud of my journey here. It wasn’t easy, it was a difficult time for my family as well.”
The 34-year-old, who has been at Real Madrid since 2009, is expected to play a key role for France at the World Cup in Qatar which starts on 20 November.
The Ballon d’Or is voted for by 100 journalists from around the world.
Ballon d’Or results
1. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France).
2. Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich, Senegal).
3. Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium).
4. Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona, Poland).
5. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt).
6. Kylian Mbappe (Paris St-Germain, France).
7. Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium).
8. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid, Brazil).
9. Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia).
10. Erling Haaland (Manchester City, Norway).
11. Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur, South Korea)
12. Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City, Algeria).
13. Sebastien Haller (Borussia Dortmund, Ivory Coast).
14. Fabinho (Liverpool, Brazil) tied with Rafael Leao (AC Milan, Portugal).
16. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, Netherlands).
17. Luis Diaz (Liverpool, Colombia) tied with Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus, Serbia) and Casemiro (Manchester United, Brazil).
20. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal).
21. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur, England).
22. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool, England) tied with Phil Foden (Manchester City, England) and Bernardo Silva (Manchester City, Portugal).
25. Joao Cancelo (Manchester City, Portugal) tied with Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich, Germany), Mike Maignan (AC Milan, France), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid, Germany), Darwin Nunez (Liverpool, Uruguay) and Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig, France).
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