With Lionel Messi incredibly absent from the nominees for the first time since 2005, Real Madrid’s French striker Karim Benzema was the winner of the 2022 Ballon d’Or at the event held at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. He finished the season with 44 goals and 15 assists in 46 games played, and was also consecrated in LaLiga of Spain.So far, the players who most times won this distinction are Lionel Messi (7), Cristiano Ronaldo (5), Michel Platini (3), Johan Cruyff (3) and Marco van Basten (3). While in the female branch, in the second edition of the delivery, Alexia Putellas, from Barcelona, was crowned again.
In addition, Thibaut Courtois, of the “merengue”, was the winner of the Lev Yashin award for the best goalkeeper and Manchester City won the prize for the best club in the world, after winning the Premier League and reaching the semifinals of the Champions League, where he fell in extra time against the future champion. In this sense, the Barcelona player of Spain Pablo Martín Páez Gavira, better known as Gavi, 18, was awarded the award for the best U-21 player. “I am proud to receive this award. I want to thank my family and all the people of La Masia. I want to thank the club of my life, Barsa, my teammates and national team, and all the coaches who gave me the opportunity to play.” Finally, the Polish Robert Lewandowski won the Gerd Müller distinction for the top scorer of the season, after his incredible records with the Bayern Munich shirt. While the Socrates prize went to Sadio Mané for his social actions.
