THE Ballon d'Or ceremony gets its 2022 edition underway tonight – and Karim Benzema is favourite to scoop up the award.
The Frenchman has played second fiddle to Cristiano Ronaldo throughout his career, but an astounding year as Real Madrid's main striker has seen him rocket to the one of the best players in the world.
- Start time: 7.30pm BST
- Live stream: L'Equipe YouTube
- Trent Alexander-Arnold & Phil Foden finish 22nd
- Harry Kane finishes 21st
- Cristiano Ronaldo in 20th
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Follow all the results with our live blog below…
Who are the nominees?
- Trent Alexander-Arnold – Liverpool
- Karim Benzema – Real Madrid
- Joao Cancelo – Manchester City
- Casemiro – Manchester United (formerly Real Madrid)
- Thibaut Courtois – Real Madrid
- Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United
- Kevin de Bruyne – Manchester City
- Luis Diaz – Liverpool (formerly Porto)
- Fabinho – Liverpool
- Phil Foden – Manchester City
- Erling Haaland – Manchester City (formerly Borussia Dortmund)
- Sebastien Haller – Borussia Dortmund (formerly Ajax)
- Harry Kane – Tottenham Hotspur
- Joshua Kimmich – Bayern Munich
- Rafael Leao – AC Milan
- Robert Lewandowski – Barcelona (formerly Bayern Munich)
- Riyad Mahrez – Manchester City
- Mike Maignan – AC Milan
- Sadio Mane – Bayern Munich (formerly Liverpool)
- Kylian Mbappe – Paris Saint-Germain
- Luka Modric – Real Madrid
- Christopher Nkunku – RB Leipzig
- Darwin Nunez – Liverpool (formerly Benfica)
- Antonio Rudiger – Real Madrid (formerly Chelsea)
- Mohamed Salah – Liverpool
- Bernardo Silva – Manchester City
- Son Heung-min – Tottenham Hotspur
- Virgil van Dijk – Liverpool
- Vinicius Junior – Real Madrid
- Dusan Vlahovic – Juventus (formerly Fiorentina)
What are the odds?
Betfair have Karim Benzema as favourite for the prestigious trophy.
Here is a list of contenders, courtesy of the bookmaker.
- Karim Benzema – 1/33
- Erling Haaland – 12/1
- Kylian Mbappe – 16/1
- Mo Salah – 25/1
- Virgil van Dijk – 25/1
- Robert Lewandowski – 33/1
- Kevin de Bruyne – 33/1
- Harry Kane – 33/1
- Vinicius Jr – 33/1
- Sadio Mane 33/1
- Cristiano Ronaldo – 40/1
- Trent Alexander-Arnold – 40/1
- Luis Diaz – 40/1
- Phil Foden – 66/1
- Joshua Kimmich – 100/1
- Dusan Vlahovic – 125/1
- Bernardo Silva – 150/1
- Riyad Mahrez – 150/1
- Joao Cancelo 250/1
- Kieran Davies
One of the best of the bench
20th place:
Despite not being able to get a game at Man Utd of late, somebody recognises the goal contribution he brought to the club last season.
Not used to such a lowly place in a trophy he has dominated over the years, Cristiano Ronaldo comes in in 20th place.
- Kieran Davies
Know what I mean 'arry
21st place:
Tottenham's talisman, 'one of their own', Harry Kane comes in at number 21.
Hoping he can steer both Tottenham and England to success this season, if he can achieve that he will no doubt find himself a lot higher up the pecking order next year.
Credit: Mark Pain / Premium Sport - Kieran Davies
Premier League players rolling in
22nd place:
Bernardo Silva (Man City)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Phil Foden (Man City)
- Kieran Davies
Results so far…..
25th place:
Darwin Nunez (Liverpool)
Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)
Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
Mike Maignan (AC Milan)
Joao Cancelo (Man City)
- Kieran Davies
Safest hands in the business
Ten players have been nominated for this year’s Yashin Trophy for the prize of best goalkeeper:
- Alisson (Liverpool)
- Yassine Bounou (Sevilla)
- Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)
- Ederson (Manchester City)
- Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur)
- Mike Maignan (Milan)
- Édouard Mendy (Chelsea)
- Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)
- Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid)
- Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Karim of the crop
After the season he had last year, not many people will be looking further than the Real Madrid striker to scoop the prestigious award this time around.
Leading his side to a La Liga title and sometimes, singlehandedly, dragging them through some Champions League ties they were already out of.
The French striker is like a fine wine and seems to get better with age.
Welcome to the 2022 Ballon d’Or
We are glad to welcome back the ceremonies after the 2021 trophy awards were cancelled, much to the annoyance of Robert Lewandowski who would have been an odds-on favourite for the award.
Once the shortlist is announced, football fans around the globe discuss the merits of their own ‘top three’ and then their friends will tell them why they are wrong and who it actually should be.
This is the beauty of the game we love, no one is wrong or right, it is all a matter of personal opinion.
It is the big question when it comes to an award like this, how do you truly compare people of very different positions as what they bring to each game is a completely different set of skills.
You could lean towards the idea that such an accolade would tend to reward attacking players more than it would midfielders, defenders and goalkeepers.
While we have seen players of those positions win the award, players scoring goals and tearing defences apart with their talents are always going to stand out more than the goalkeeper who made one save but it led to you having your 1-0 win.
Nevertheless, we wait with bated breath to see who is crowned the 2022 Ballon d’Or winner.
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