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2022 Ballon d'Or Results

The Ballon d'Or award is an annual football award for the best international player from the previous season. The award is voted by a panel of selected journalists from the top football playing countries.

The Ballon d'Or underwent several big changes for 2022. The most significant change is that the award has now aligned with the regular football season (August to July) compared to previously when it was judged based on the calendar year (January to December). It means a player's entire season will be judged upon, rather than two half-seasons. The voting has changed too. It is now only from representatives of the top-100 ranked countries rather than all countries.



Below are the 30 nominees in the final order after voting. Seven-time winner Lionel Messi was not on the list (for the first time since 2005), though Ronaldo did make the cut ( finishing 20th). The ceremony announcing the winners was held on October 17 at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.

The 2022 winner was favorite Real Madrid's Karim Benzema. He became the fifth Frenchman to win the award, and the first since Zinedine Zidane in 1998. Fittingly, it was Zidane who presented him the trophy in Paris.

Socrates Award which acknowledges the humanitarian work by a champion footballer was first presented in 2022.

See the list of all previous Ballon d'Or winners, and the final standings for the women's Ballon d'Or in 2022.

Final order for the men's 2022 Ballon d'Or

Order Player Position Nationality Club
1 Karim Benzema FW France Real Madrid
2 Sadio Mane FW Senegal Liverpool /
Bayern Munich
3 Kevin De Bruyne MF Belgium Man City
4 Robert Lewandowski FW Poland Bayern Munich /
Barcelona
5 Mohamed Salah FW Egypt Liverpool
6 Kylian Mbappe FW France PSG
7 Thibaut Courtois GK Belgium Real Madrid
8 Vinicius Jr. FW Brazil Real Madrid
9 Luka Modric MF Croatia Real Madrid
10 Erling Haaland FW Norway Man City
11 Son Heung-min FW South Korea Tottenham
12 Riyad Mahrez FW Algeria Man City
13 Sebastien Haller FW Ivory Coast Ajax /
B. Dortmund
=14 Fabinho MF Brazil Liverpool
=14 Rafael Leao FW Portugal AC Milan
16 Virgil van Dijk DF Netherlands Liverpool
=17 Casemiro MF Brazil Real Madrid /
Man United
=17 Dusan Vlahovic FW Serbia Fiorentina /
Juventus
=17 Luis Diaz FW Colombia Porto /
Liverpool
20 Cristiano Ronaldo FW Portugal Man United
21 Harry Kane FW England Tottenham
=22 Trent Alexander-Arnold DF England Liverpool
=22 Phil Foden FW England Man City
=22 Bernardo Silva MF Portugal Man City
=25 Joshua Kimmich MF Germany Bayern Munich
=25 Mike Maignan GK France AC Milan
=25 Antonio Rudiger DF Germany Chelsea /
Real Madrid
=25 Joao Cancelo DF Portugal Man City
=25 Christopher Nkunku FW France RB Leipzig
=25 Darwin Nunez  FW Uruguay Benfica /
Liverpool


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