The 2022 Ballon d’Or Awards featured some of the most prominent names to receive their respective honors. Among them were Karim Benzema, who won the award for the best soccer player in the men’s category, and Alexia Putellas in the women’s category. Karim comes from Real Madrid as a France forward, and Alexia comes from Barcelona as a Spain midfielder.
Karim played a very important role in taking his side to achieve the title of Champions League in the last season. Karim scored 15 goals and helped Real Madrid create a new record with the 7th title in their hands. The previous season, overall, has been amazing for him. He was able to put up 44 goals in 46 games.
Real Madrid was in the losing position, but it fought back against Paris St Germain in the last 16, Chelsea in the quarter-finals, and Manchester City in the semi-finals. Manchester City was somewhat difficult to achieve out of all the events, considering that the club has a reputation for going for the win. The same personality of Manchester City brought the award for the best club to its name.
Karim is now the first French player to win the award after Zinedine Zidane, who was honored in 1998. Adding more players to the list, he comes down to being the fifth player after Michel Platini, Raymond Kopa, and Jean-Pierre Papin. When on stage, he talked about his pride in having the award right in front of him. As per the recent sports news, Karim mentioned that it was a childhood dream to achieve this award. Karim talked about his family, highlighting how difficult it was for them when he could not feature in the French team. Alexia won her title for the second straight year by beating Sam Kerr and Beth Mead.
After being the top scorer in the Champions League, she was named FIFA Best Player in the women’s category. Alexia made her spot with 11 goals in the league and 18 in the Primera Division.Odds on several soccer betting sites went for a toss when Alexia could not attend Euro for Spain after suffering an injury.
Thibaut Courtois from Real Madrid took the Lev Yashin award for the best goalkeeper. What worked well for him was 9 saves in the final round to keep their fans’ dreams alive. Despite winning the title, Real Madrid lost to Manchester City in terms of the award. It was the fourth for the City in the last five years. Lewandowski from Barcelona took away the Gerd Muller Trophy for being the best striker with 50 goals in all the competitions for Bayern in the last season. Gavi, from the same club, picked up the Kopa Trophy for being the best player in the under-21 category.
