The 2022 Ballon d’Or will be the 66th annual ceremony of the Ballon d’Or — recognising the Best Footballer in the World in the 2021/22 season.
The Ballon d’Or ( meaning ”Golden Ball”) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine, France Football, since 1956.
Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (founded in 1991) and known as the FIFA Ballon d’Or.
That partnership ended in 2016, and the award reverted to the Ballon d’Or, while FIFA also reverted to its own separate annual award The Best FIFA Men’s Player.
The recipients of the joint FIFA Ballon d’Or are considered as winners by both award organisations.
In this article, FootballOrbit brings you all you need to know about the 2022 Ballon d’Or.
2022 Ballon d’Or
The 2022 Ballon d’Or award ceremony will be on Monday October 17, 2022. The event will take place at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France.
The ceremony will begin at 7:30pm BST (2:30pm ET) and it will run until 11pm BST (6pm ET).
It corresponds to 7:30pm to 9:00pm WAT (West African Time).
Furthermore, for the first time in the history of the Ballon d’Or, it will be given based on the results of the season instead of the calendar year.
In addition to announcing the Men’s Ballon d’Or award, the winner of the Women’s Ballon d’Or (Ballon d’Or Feminin), Kopa Trophy (presented to the best under 21 player) and the Yashin Trophy (for the best goalkeeper) will also be revealed.
2022 Men’s Ballon d’Or Nominees
Here is the full list of nominees announced by France Football for this year’s award.
Seven-time and reigning winner Lionel Messi was not nominated for the award for the first time since 2005. This is due to his struggles in his first season at PSG.
Also, there was no room for Messi’s PSG teammate, Neymar, in the 30-man shortlist.
Nominees
¶Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)
¶Rafael Leao (AC Milan)
¶Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)
¶Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
¶Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
¶Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
¶Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
¶Luis Diaz (Liverpool)
¶Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
¶Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)
¶Casemiro (Manchester United)
¶Heung-Min Son (Tottenham)
¶Fabinho (Liverpool)
¶Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
¶Mike Maignan (AC Milan)
¶Harry Kane (Tottenham)
¶Darwin Nunez (Liverpool)
¶Phil Foden (Manchester City)
¶Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich)
¶Sebastian Haller (Borussia Dortmund)
¶Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
¶Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid)
¶Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
¶Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
¶Dusan Vlahović (Juventus)
¶Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
¶Joao Cancelo (Juventus)
¶Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
¶Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
¶Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid).
Who are the favourites to win the Men’s Ballon d’Or 2022?
Karim Benzema
Benzema is the clear front runner for the prize and everyone knows this. The 34-year-old is set to claim his first Ballon d’Or on Monday.
The French striker helped Real Madrid win the La Liga, Supercopa Espana, UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup in a blistering season where he was in absolutely impressive form.
Surely, it will be a major shock if Benzema failed to win the 2022 Ballon d’Or.
Sadio Mane
Mane helped Senegal win her first ever AFCON earlier this year — scoring the winning penalty in the final.
Furthermore, he also scored the winning spot-kick in the 2022 FIFA World Cup play-off to send the Teranga Lions to Qatar.
With Liverpool, Sadio Mane narrowly missed out on winning a historic quadraple but the Reds still managed to win the FA Cup and League Cup.
His mixed start to life at Bayern Munich will affect his chances.
Mohamed Salah
Salah had a fantastic season in 2021/22 as Liverpool won the FA Cup and League Cup.
The Egyptian won the Premier League Golden Boot, PFA and FWA Player of the Year and was in PFA Team of the Year.
But his near-misses may cost him the Ballon d’Or.
With Egypt, he was very close to winning the AFCON, close to reaching the World Cup.
Salah is one of the top football stars that will miss the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
And so close to winning both the Premier League and Champions League with Liverpool.
Robert Lewandowski
Lewandowski won the Bundesliga with Bayern last time and was in his usual wonderful goalscoring form but failure to win the Champions League will cost him the Ballon d’Or.
Kylian Mbappe
Despite PSG as a team flopping last season, Kylian Mbappe stood out on a personal level and was phenomenal through the campaign.
He led the French giants to the Ligue 1 title — being top scorer, had the most assists and named as the Ligue 1 Best Player of the Season.
He did well in the UEFA Champions League too but his efforts wasn’t enough to carry the whole team. Despite PSG getting eliminated in the round of 16, Mbappe was named in the Champions League Team of the Season.
Vinícius Júnior
Vinicius Junior helped Real Madrid win the La Liga, Supercopa Espana, UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup.
The Brazilian scored the winner in the Champions League final.
But he was eclipsed by Benzema, who regularly dug Madrid out of trouble.
Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland had a brilliant season at Borussia Dortmund last season, despite the club’s struggles.
He has had an equally brilliant start to the 2022/23 season, in which he has broken record after record and already scored 20 goals in 13 games for new club, Manchester City.
Haaland — along with Mbappe and Vinicius — are looking like future Ballon d’Or winners.
Women’s Ballon d’Or 2022 nominees
Barcelona’s Alexis Putellas won the Women’s Ballon d’Or title last season and looks to set to defend her title in 2022 due to her outstanding campaign in 2021/22.
But who knows whether Euro 2022 could have influenced some voters?
Nominees
¶Selma Bacha (Lyon)
¶Fridolina Rolfo (Barcelona)
¶Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal)
¶Lucy Bronze (Barcelona)
¶Sam Kerr (Chelsea)
¶Christiane Endler (Lyon)
¶Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg)
¶Kadidatou Diani (PSG)
¶Catarina Macario (Lyon)
¶Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
¶Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg)
¶Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona)
¶Wendie Renard (Lyon)
¶Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave)
¶Beth Mead (Arsenal)
¶Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona)
¶Marie-Antoinette Katoto (PSG)
¶Millie Bright (Chelsea)
¶Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit)
¶Ada Hegerberg (Lyon).
Yashin Trophy
Nominees for the Best Goalkeeper of the Season
¶Yassine Bounou (Sevilla)
¶Alisson (Liverpool)
¶Thibaut Courtois (Rea Madrid)
¶Ederson (Manchester City)
¶Mike Maignan (AC Milan)
¶Edouard Mendy (Chelsea)
¶Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)
¶Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid)
¶Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt)
¶Hugo Lloris (Tottenham).
Kopa Trophy 2022 nominees
Nominees for the best U-21 player on the continent are:
¶Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund)
¶Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
¶Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid)
¶Gavi (Barcelona)
¶Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich)
¶Nuno Mendes (PSG)
¶Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
¶Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig)
¶Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
¶Florian Wirtz (Bayern Leverkusen).
How is the Ballon d’Or decided and who votes?
The initial 30-man shortlist is compiled by the editors at France Football, the organisers of the event, as well as Didier Drogba and one selected journalist.
Once that list has been completed, a selection of international journalists — one representative from the top 100 nations — and national team coaches and captains vote to decide the winner.
They are each asked to choose their top five players from the 30 selected, and order them from first to fifth based on: individual and collective performances during the year, player class and an overall view of the player’s career.
The player who is selected as the winner by each of the selection panel is awarded six points, second-place is given four points, down to one point for fifth place.
The total points for each player from every journalist, coach and captain are then added together to decide third, second and first place.
Who has won the most Ballons d’Or in history?
Lionel Messi has won the most Ballons d’Or in history with a record 7 titles — including the Ballon d’Or 2021.
He is followed by Cristiano Ronaldo with a total of 5 — last won it in 2017.
After those two, three players — Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten — have 3 Ballons d’Or each.
Legendary Brazilian striker Ronaldo de Lima has won the Ballon d’Or twice, a feat also achieved by Franz Beckenbauer, Alfredo Di Stefano, Kevin Keegan and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
