Karim Benzema has become the fifth Frenchman to win the coveted Ballon d’Or prize, with Alexia Putellas winning the Ballon d’Or Feminin for the second year running. Thibaut Courtois won the Yashin Trophy as the season’s best goalkeeper, while Robert Lewandowski took home the Gerd Muller prize as the best striker in world football last season. Manchester City won club of the year.
Karim Benzema has won the Ballon d’Or, becoming only the fifth Frenchman to do so and at 34 years old is the oldest winner since Stanley Matthews in 1956.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo had won 12 of the last 13 Ballon d’Ors – with Real Madrid’s Luka Modric winning as the sole outlier in 2018 – but Messi was not even nominated for the 2022 award. Ronaldo finished 20th this year.
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