On Monday night, Karim Benzema was awarded the 2022 Ballon d’Or after defeating Sadio Mané and Kevin De Bruyne in the voting.
The Real Madrid striker is the fifth Frenchman to ever win the highly desired award.
On Monday, 17 October 2022, Karim Benzema became the fifth French player in history to win the Ballon d’Or, 24 years after Zinédine Zidane was awarded the title.
Sadio Mané (Liverpool then Bayern Munich), who won the African Cup of Nations with Senegal, and the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne, who won the English Premier League with Manchester City for the sixth time, were ranked below the Real Madrid captain in this edition’s classification for 2022.
The former Lyonnais player, who won the Champions League five times in his career, also captured his fourth Spanish championship.
His first cup with the French squad was also won during the 2021–2022 season, when they defeated Spain (2-1) in the League of Nations final, and the international player from the 97 picks equalized with a beautiful goal.
Karim Benzema may win the World Cup in just over a month, adding it to his impressive collection of trophies as the only one it now lacks.
