Benzema - Ballon d'Or 2022

On the 17th of October 2022, Karim Benzema was crowned king of football. Following a spectacular 2021/22 campaign, France Football awarded the Real Madrid captain the 2022 Ballon d'Or. The gala, held in Paris, was attended by an extensive delegation from our club, headed by president Florentino Pérez. Benzema finished ahead of Mané, De Bruyne and Lewandowski in the voting carried out by 180 international journalists.

Having collected the prize from Zidane, Benzema reflected: "Holding this trophy is such an honour, it's a childhood dream come true. It's an individual award, but a team one too, and I think this is the Ballon d'Or of the people. Thank you to all of Madrid, to the players, because without them this would have been impossible, to the fans for always motivating me to give my best on the pitch, and to the president as well".

The Frenchman received the accolade after taking to Real Madrid to their Decimocuarta European Cup, a 35th LaLiga title and a 12th Spanish Super Cup,  topping the scoring charts in every competition with 15, 27 and 2 goals respectively. Benzema also played a key role in his country clinching the Nations League trophy and had already been named UEFA Best Men's Player.
 

Modrić, Courtois, Vini Jr., Casemiro and Rüdiger were also named on the 30-man shortlist to win the award. The German defender finished 25th, the Brazilian midfielder was 17th; the Croatian made 9th place, the Brazilian forward was 8th and the Belgian goalkeeper finished 7th, as well as claiming the Yashin Trophy as the world's best goalkeeper. Meanwhile, Camavinga finished second in the voting for the Kopa Trophy, awarded to the best player under 21 years of age.

Madridista Ballon d'Ors
Three Ballon d'Or winners in the form of Zidane, Ronaldo and Figo joined Florentino Pérez in accompanying Karim Benzema at the gala. After picking up their trophies, both the French forward and Courtois had words of gratitude for their teammates and the fans. In the following days, they also shared their awards with the team and the fans at the Santiago Bernabéu.