Benzema first, Salah in 5th: The Ballon d’Or Top 30 IN FULL

FT Desk

Updated: 18 Oct 2022 13:06 BST
4 min read

Karim Benzema in the Champions League for Real Madrid, 2021/22 — © ProShots

Karim Benzema has won the 2022 Ballon d’Or.

The Real Madrid superstar played a key role in the Blancos winning the Champions League last season, scoring crucial knockout goals in the wins over PSG, Chelsea and Man City.

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Benzema was red-hot favourite to take the Golden Ball, and he was awarded the prize at a glittering ceremony in Paris on Monday.

The top 30 players in the 2022 Ballon d’Or began to be counted down in the early part of the evening, before Benzema was the last man standing.

KARIM BENZEMA IS THE 2022 BALLON D’OR! ✨@Benzema @realmadrid #ballondor pic.twitter.com/TXLkHJIhJM
— Ballon d'Or #ballondor (@francefootball) October 17, 2022

Sadio Mane was second after leading Senegal to Africa Cup of Nations glory and Liverpool to the Champions League final, before joining Bayern Munich.

Kevin de Bruyne completed the podium as Man City's superstar in another Premier League victory.

In fourth was former Bayern Munich and new Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski.

Mohamed Salah enjoyed another superb year, earning him a fifth-placed finish.

Kylian Mbappe was surprisingly down in only sixth place, despite having been second favourite with the bookmakers for much of the year.

© ProShots - Mbappe was surprisingly only in sixth

Real Madrid trio Thibaut Courtois (who won the Yashin award), Vinicius Jr and Luka Modric were positioned seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.

Erling Haaland placed in tenth following a sensational start to the 2022-23 season with Man City.

Tottenham’s Heung-Min Son just missed out on the top 10 as he finished 11th, just ahead of Man City’s Riyad Mahrez in 12th and Borussia Dortmund hitman Sebastian Haller in 13th.

In 14th place there was a tie, as Liverpool midfielder Fabinho and AC Milan’s Serie Player of the Season Rafael Leao were locked together.

Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk was in 16th place, with his Liverpool teammate Luis Diaz tied in 17th with Man Utd anchor man Casemiro and Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic.

Cristiano Ronaldo has won five Ballons d;Or during his career but the Man Utd legend could only finish 20th this year.

Harry Kane was 21st, with Man City pair Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva in joint-22nd together with Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.

To complete the top 30, there were six players in joint-25th. These were Darwin Nunez, Joao Cancelo, Mike Maignan, Joshua Kimmich, Christopher Nkunku and Antonio Rudiger.

Lionel Messi, of course, did not even make the 30-man shortlist.

Ballon d’Or Rankings

Position	Player	Club
1st	Karim Benzema	Real Madrid
2nd	Sadio Mane	Bayern Munich
3rd	Kevin De Bruyne	Man City
4th	Robert Lewandowski	Barcelona
5th	Mohamed Salah	Liverpool
6th	Kylian Mbappe	PSG
7th	Thibaut Courtois	Real Madrid
8th	Vinicius Jr	Real Madrid
9th	Luka Modric	Real Madrid
10th	Erling Haaland	Man City
11th	Heung-min Son	Tottenham
12th	Riyad Mahrez	Man City
13th	Sebastian Haller	Borussia Dortmund
=14th	Fabinho	Liverpool
=14th	Rafa Leao	AC Milan
16th	Virgil van Dijk	Liverpool
=17th	Luis Diaz	Liverpool
=17th	Casemiro	Man Utd
=17th	Dusan Vlahovic	Juventus
20th	Cristiano Ronaldo	Man Utd
21st	Harry Kane	Tottenham
=22nd	Phil Foden	Man City
=22nd	Trent Alexander-Arnold	Liverpool
=22nd	Bernardo Silva	Man City
=25th	Darwin Nunez	Liverpool
=25th	Joao Cancelo	Man City
=25th	Joshua Kimmich	Bayern Munich
=25th	Mike Maignan	AC Milan
=25th	Christopher Nkunku	Leipzig
=25th	Antonio Rudiger	Real Madrid