Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema won the Ballon d'Or award for the first time since 1998, the first time since 1998 that a French player has won the award, and the award was presented to the last French winner and former Real Madrid manager Zidane who led him to the pinnacle of his career.
In the past 13 Golden Globe Awards, 12 have been monopolized by Messi (7) or Ronaldo (5), the former failed to make the shortlist, and Ronaldo ranked 20th, the lowest in the past 17 years.
Benzema scored 44 goals in 46 games for Real Madrid this season, winning the Champions League again and winning La Liga. At 34, he is the oldest recipient since Stanley Matthews in 1956. Striker Mane, who moved from Liverpool to Bayern Munich, finished second this season, and Manchester City's De Bruyne finished third.
Golden Globe Awards 2022 Rankings:
1. Benzema (Real Madrid/France)
2. Mane (Liverpool-Bayern Munich/Senegal)
3. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City/Belgium)
4. Lewandowski (Barcelona/Poland)
5. Salah (Liverpool/Egypt)
6. Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain/France)
7. Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid/Belgium)
8. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid/Brazil)
9. Modric (Real Madrid/Croatia)
10. Haaland (Borussia Dortmund - Manchester City/Norway)
11. Son Heung-min (Tottenham/South Korea)
12. Mahrez (Manchester City/Algeria)
13. Sebastian Allay (Dortmund/Ivory Coast)
14. Fabinho (Liverpool/Brazil), Rafael Leo (AC Milan/Portugal)
16. Van Dijk (Liverpool/Netherlands)
17. Luis Díaz (Liverpool/Colombia), Vlahović (Juventus, Serbia), Casemiro (Real Madrid-Manchester United/Brazil)
20. Ronaldo (Manchester United/Portugal)
21. Kane (Tottenham/England)
22. Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool/England), Phil Foden (Manchester City/England), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City/Portugal)
25. Joshua Cancelo (Manchester City/Portugal), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich/Germany), Mike Mignan (AC Milan/France), Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea-Real Madrid/Germany), Darwin Núñez (Benfica-Liverpool/Uruguay), Christophe Nkunku (Leipzig/France).
Most of the 30-man list of the Ballon d'Or comes from Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester City, with Real Madrid accounting for 5 (excluding Casemiro, who switched to Manchester United this season), Liverpool and Darwin Nunez, who joined this season, 6 (excluding Mane, who switched to Bayern this season), and Manchester City and Haaland, who joined this season, have 6 people.
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois won the "Yesin Award" for best goalkeeper, the "Kopa Award" for the best youth player went to Barcelona's Pablo Gavi, and Robert Lewandowski became the top scorer "Muller Award". Barcelona's Alexia Putellas won the Women's Ballon d'Or and Manchester City Team of the Year.