After a long time a new Ballon d’Or winner!

We’re done waiting. Karim Benzema, a striker for Real Madrid, won his first Ballon d’Or on Monday, October 17. He is the second-oldest player to win the award, after Stanley Matthews, who was 41 when he won the first Ballon d’Or in 1956.

The Frenchman was rewarded for a magical 2021/22 season in which his team won both Spain’s La Liga and the UEFA Champions League and he was the top scorer in both. He also helped France win the UEFA Nations League.

For months, it had been clear that Benzema would win the award for best player in the world, since no other player could come close to his achievements and number of trophies. In 2021/22, he scored 44 goals for Real Madrid and six more for France.

Gavi beat out his teammate Pedri to win the Under-21 Player of the Year award. The award goes to the best young men’s player. Thibaut Courtois of Real Madrid won the Yashin Trophy as the best goalie of the year. Robert Lewandowski scored 57 goals for his club and country in 2021/22 and won the Gerd Muller Award as the best striker for the second year in a row.

Manchester City won the Club of the Year award, and six players were named as Ballon d’Or finalists. Sadio Mane won the first Socrates Award, which was made to recognise acts of solidarity by players. Mane also came in second place in the voting for the Ballon d’Or, just missing out on a quadruple of trophies with Liverpool in 2021-22 and leading Senegal to an Africa Cup of Nations title and a spot in the 2022 World Cup finals.

After Lionel Messi’s controversial win of the Ballon d’Or in 2021, France Football made several changes to the voting process for the 2022 award. For example, the number of media voters was cut and the criteria used to judge players were changed.

For the first time, players were judged based on the European club season (August to July) instead of the calendar year. Also, the 100 media voters for the men’s award (one from each of the top 100 nations in the FIFA men’s rankings) and the 50 media voters for the women’s award (from the top 50 nations in the FIFA women’s rankings) no longer took career achievements into account.