Karim Benzema, who won the Spanish league and Champions League titles with Real Madrid, as well as the top scorer in both titles, has been awarded the 2022 Ballon d’Or by France Football. The 34-year-old French striker became the fifth of his countrymen and the eighth Real player to win the trophy.
This time, the paper was right: Karim Benzema, who had previously been considered the biggest favourite, won the 2022 Ballon d’Or for France Football.
The 97-times French international has been the favourite for the 2021-2022 season. He won his club’s 14th Champions League title with Real Madrid, was the top scorer in the BL with 15 goals, won the Spanish championship with his club, won the Pichichi Trophy for top scorer (27 goals) and was also involved in the Spanish Super Cup with two goals. In total, he scored 44 goals and 15 assists this season.
KARIM BENZEMA IS THE 2022 BALLON D’OR! ✨@Benzema@realmadrid#ballondor pic.twitter.com/TXLkHJIhJM
— Ballon d'Or #ballondor (@francefootball) October 17, 2022
“Here are my two idols, Ronaldo and Zidane. I’ve always dreamed of this award and I’ve never given up on that dream,” said the 34-year-old striker, who took to the podium, “Here’s an example that anything is possible: there were difficult times when I didn’t play for the national team, it was difficult for my whole family, but I’m proud of the path I’ve taken since the beginning of my career. I have to thank my Madrid and national team teammates, my coaches, Real president Florentino Pérez, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas, but above all my family and, really, my teammates. It may be an individual award, but I couldn’t do it without you,” said Benzema, who was not fighting back tears but smiled broadly several times during his speech and paused to collect his thoughts.
It should be noted that France Football no longer awards trophies based on the calendar year but on the form shown in the championship season, ending a long-standing debate that has dragged on for decades.
It is only the second time since 2008 that neither Cristiano Ronaldo (5) nor Lionel Messi (7) has won the vote, with the only cuckoo in the last twelve years being the 2018 winner, Luka Modric. This time, however, it had been known for days that the Portuguese and Argentinian classics would not be able to repeat, as neither of them made the top ten.
Benzema is the eighth player to have won the Ballon d’Or after Alfredo Di Stefano, Raymond Kopa, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Fabio Cannavaro, Cristiano Ronaldo and Modric, and the eighth to have won the Ballon d’Or for his performances for Real Madrid. No other club has ever produced so many winners, and the Spanish giants were already the record holders for the number of winners in a season. However, Barcelona still lead in total wins (13) by one.
Shockingly, since 2009, only one player has won the Ballon d’Or in the Spanish top flight (also) that year. The reason for this small remark in brackets is that Lionel Messi won last year’s trophy for PSG, although he was still a Barcelona player for much of the period.
The last Frenchman to win before Benzema was Zinédine Zidane, who was still at Juventus in 1998 and was the best in the eyes of the experts (this time he was the one to present the award to the winner, and his appearance on stage was almost a sign of the occasion). The striker, who started his professional career at Lyon, is the fifth Frenchman ever to win the Ballon d’Or: Kopa (1958), Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985), Jean-Pierre Papin (1991) and the aforementioned Zidane.
The Kopa Trophy for the best youth player of the season went to Gavi (Barcelona); the newly created charity award, named after the former Brazilian star Socrates, went to Sadio Mané (Bayern/Liverpool); the Golden Ball for the best female player went to defending champion (the first double winner in the history of the award) Alexia Putellas (Barcelona). The best goalkeeper of the season was Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid); the best striker – in a minor anomaly, but the Golden Boot of the year – was Robert Lewandowski (now Barcelona, previously Bayern). The team of the season – the club with the most nominations for men and women combined – was Manchester City.
Behind Benzema on the podium were Sadio Mané and Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), with Robert Lewandowski and Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) also making the top five.
One of the most human moments of the awards ceremony was when, at the end of his tribute, Benzema was asked if he could call one person to the stage, who would it be, and he repeated the single word four or five times: my mum. Finally, her father and her son took their seats next to her at the microphone.
“This dream has never let me rest, never let me waver,” Benzema repeated.