Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema won the 2022 Ballon d’Or by 356 votes which is the second biggest victory in the award’s history, it has been revealed.
Benzema received 549 votes for his stunning 2021-22 campaign, which included leading Real Madrid to the La Liga and Champions League double.
He was the top goalscorer in La Liga last season with 27 goals from 32 games and registered a goal or an assist every 89 minutes in the Champions League, including hat-tricks against Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.
The voting format at the Ballon d’Or saw 100 journalists from FIFA’s top 100 nations select their top five from the 30-man shortlist.
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The players on each jury member’s list were awarded points, as follows:
First: Six points
Second: Four points
Third: Three points
Fourth: Two points
Fifth: One point
Mane was awarded 193 votes for his success with Senegal and Liverpool last season.
He scored the winning spot kick in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations against Egypt, and did so again in the play-off to secure qualification for the Qatar World Cup, which begins on November 20.
He also played a key role in Liverpool’s near-historic quadruple where they won the League Cup, FA Cup and just missed out on the Premier League and Champions League titles.
Kevin De Bruyne pipped Robert Lewandowski by five votes to take third, whilst Mohamed Salah was fifth.
Several players received no votes, most notably, Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Manchester United player failed to finish in the top three for the first time since 2005.
BALLON D’OR 2022 VOTING – TOP 10
Player Votes
Karim Benzema 549
Sadio Mane 193
Kevin De Bruyne 175
Robert Lewandowski 170
Mohamed Salah 116
Kylian Mbappe 85
Thibaut Courtois 82
Vinicius Junior 61
Luka Modric 20
Erling Haaland 18
