The 2022 Ballon d'Or Awards
The 2022 Ballon d’Or Awards was the 66th annual ceremony celebrating football, recognizing the best players of the year through their contribution to their clubs and countries. The award ceremony in the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris is comprised of multiple awards, but all eyes were focused on the lucrative and historic Ballon d’Or award, trademarking the best player of the year for men and women. The award was consistently crowned to Lionel Messi and Cristian Ronaldo throughout the last decade with 12 Ballon d’Ors being won between them since 2008, with only one other winner, Luka Modric, in 2018. With Messi and Ronaldo’s reign of dominance slowing down, the award is vacant for a number of players who hoped to be crowned best of the year.
This year’s Men’s Ballon d’Or award was presented to Karim Benzema. Coming into the night as the clear favorite for the award, the Real Madrid forward displayed his talents on the stage, recording 46 goals and 15 assists in 50 games in all competitions for club and country. Benzema is establishing his role as the main goal provider leading his team to win their 35th La Liga title, 14th Champions League title, 12th Supercopa de España, and 5th Super Cup, while also helping the French national team secure their qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar this November. The Frenchman is hoping to continue his run of success, closing out the calendar year with the addition of the World Cup to his robust trophy cabinet.
This year’s Women’s Ballon d’Or was presented to Barcelona forward Alexia Putellas. Putellas is having an outstanding year once again, claiming her 2nd consecutive Ballon d’Or award and being named UEFA’s 2022 player of the year. Her individual talent alone was instrumental to the success of Barcelona, securing 11 goals in the Champions League, the most in the competition, and 18 in the Primera Division Femenina along with 11 assists . Putellas proved herself to be the clear front runner for the award while also winning the Primera Division Femenina, Copa de la Reina, Supercopa Femenina, and finalist in the Champions League with a tough loss to Lyon. The Spanish forwards’ instinctive finishing ability separated her from other candidates like Ada Hegerberg of Lyon, Beth Mead of Arsenal, and Alex Popp of Wolfsburg.
The Ballon d’Or ceremony’s Kopa award is presented to the best and most influential young talent of the year, voted by 32 former Ballon D’or winners. This year’s award was heavily contested and controversial with several deserving candidates proving themselves to be highly prosperous players for years to come. The 2022 Kopa award was presented to 18-year-old Pablo Gavi, of Barcelona in his first year playing professionally. He had nothing short of a standout year playing in the Barcelona midfield, maintaining his position in the team throughout the year. Gavi displayed his quick instincts, strong passing ability, and composure, making him one of the most sought-after talents at such a young age. Being presented the award by his midfield partner and 2021 Kopa award winner Pedri, the two young talents will be highly influential to the future success of a transitioning Barcelona team. Notable runner-up candidates for the award were Eduardo Camavinga of Real Madrid, Jamal Musiala of Bayern Munich, and Jude Bellingham of Borussia Dortmund.
The Yashin award is presented to the best goalkeeper of the year based on overall performances, clean sheets, and how the team performs. The keeper’s ability to be a highly influential defense makes a massive impact on the team’s success. This year’s Yashin award winner was Thibout Courtois of Real Madrid. A clear favorite for the award given Real Madrid’s highly successful campaign with the Belgian keeper proving once again why he is one of the best. Courtois’s performance in Madrid’s 1-0 win against Liverpool in the Champions League final alone made him the standout candidate, as his performance will go down as one of the best goalkeeper performances in a major final. With Madrid against the ropes throughout the match, only recording 4 shots to Liverpool’s 24, Courtois made 9 saves on 9 shots on target, recording the most saves ever in the Champions League Final.
During the awards, the inaugural introduction of the Gerd Müller Award, previously known as Striker of the Year, recognizes the player who scored the most goals in the year for club and country. The award is named the Gerd Müller award to recognize one of the most prolific and underrated finishers in the history of the sport. Having scored the most goals in a year, 85 goals in the 1972 season for German side Bayern Munich, only to be surpassed 40 years later by Lionel Messi with 91 goals in a year. The award’s inaugural winner was Robert Lewandowski, formerly of Bayern Munich, having scored 48 goals for his club and 11 goals for the Polish national team, helping secure qualification for the 2022 World Cup. Lewandowski’s scoring ability throughout the past decade has been nothing short of dominant, consistently being the go-to target option for his side as he hopes to continue doing so after securing a summer move to Barcelona.
The inaugural presentation of the Socrates Award looks beyond individual accolades in soccer, recognizing humanitarian work and efforts made by players. The award is named after a former Brazilian player, Socrates, who fought for social change and the restoration of democracy in the 1980s against the established military dictatorship in Brazil. The award’s winner was Sadio Mane, of Bayern Munich, for his humanitarian contributions to Senegal. His dedication to giving back to his homeland has made an immense impact by helping to improve living conditions, building schools, building a hospital, and even providing aid in funds to the Senegalese government during the pandemic.
This year’s Club of the Year award was highly controversial, with the award being presented to Manchester City as the award is commonly won by the team that has withstood all the odds in winning the Champions League. With Manchester City bowing out in the Semi-Finals to eventual winners Real Madrid. With only winning the Premier League in the 2021-2022 season, many believed the award would surely be given to Real Madrid, who had 2 domestic competitions and the Champions League.
This year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony was a big success with the introduction of new awards while also recognizing the best of the best players that had worked tirelessly to help push their teams over the line to win major competitions and perform at their highest levels.