For the first time since 2005, Christiano Ronaldo had the lowest ranking in the 2022 Ballon D’or player award gala.
Karim Benzema emerged as the winner of the 2022 most prestigious football award ceremony, while Sadio mane of Senegal and Bayern Munich came second.
Kevin De Bruyne finished in third and he was England’s Premier League player with the highest number of votes in the award ceremony.
Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi has shared the Ballon D’or award since 2007 before Luka Modric won it in 2019. For the first time, Ronaldo was ranked 20th and Messi did not even make the 25-man cut.
It seems both Legends have seen the peak of their careers as Christiano is 37 years old while Messi is turning 36, following closely behind. Messi has had seven Ballon D’or to his name while Ronaldo has had five.
There was a time Neymar was a household name and he was pushed as a favorite to win the prestigious award when Christiano and Lionel are not at their peak anymore, but Neymar has not been able to get close in the rankings for a while now.
During his speech after receiving his award, Karim Benzema paid tribute to Tupac, Zinedine Zidane, and Ronaldo, as he called them his inspiration. He said:
“All the work I did, I never gave up. It was a childhood dream like all kids – the motivation. I had two motivations in my life – Zidane and Ronaldo. I’ve always had this dream in my mind that anything is possible.”
“I have a lot of people to thank. It’s an individual prize, but it’s a collective one because everyone has played a role.”
Manchester City were named Club of the Year at the Paris ceremony after winning their fourth Premier League title in five seasons, beating runners-up Liverpool and Real Madrid to the prize.
