Benzema, Ballon d’Or 2022 | Real Madrid CF

On October 17, 2022, Karim Benzema was crowned the King of Football. After an incredible 2021/22 season, France Soccer presented the captain of Real Madrid with the Golden Ball 2022. The event, held in Paris, counted on a wide representation of our club, led by the president Florentino Perez. Benzema was ahead in that order of Mané, De Bruyne and Lewandowski in a vote in which 180 international journalists took part.

After receiving the award from Zidane, Benzema said: “Receiving this trophy is a source of pride, it was a childhood dream. It’s an individual award, but also a collective one and for me it’s the people’s Ballon d’Or. Thank you to all of Real, to the players because without them nothing would have been possible, to the public for pushing me to always give the maximum on the pitch, and to the president”.

The Frenchman received this distinction after leading Real Madrid to conquer the Decimocuarta, the 35th Liga and the 12th Spanish Super Cup. So many competitions in which he finished top scorer, with 15, 27 and 2 goals respectively. In addition, he was decisive for his selection to win the Nations League. Benzema had already been elected UEFA Player of the Year.

Modrić, Courtois, Vini Jr., Casemiro and Rüdiger also made the list of 30 nominees for the trophy. The German defender was ranked 25th, the Brazilian midfielder 17th, the Croatian 9th, the Brazilian striker 8th and the Belgian goalkeeper 7th, he who also won the Yachine Trophy best goalkeeper in the world. For his part, Camavinga finished second in the Kopa Trophy ranking for best player under 21.

The Ballons d’Or madridistas
Three Ballon d’Or winners Zidane, Ronaldo and Figo, accompanied Benzema to the ceremony, in addition to Florentino Pérez. After receiving their awards, both the French striker and Courtois had words of thanks for their teammates and supporters. A few days later, the two players shared their rewards with the team and with the Santiago Bernabéu.