After a stellar campaign with Real Madrid, which was highlighted with the Champions League and Spanish league crowns, Karim Benzema took home the men’s Ballon d’Or for the first time on Monday.
Alexia Putellas, a Spanish player, won the women’s trophy for the second year in a row after having another outstanding season with Barcelona.
Benzema had his best season ever at Madrid, being the top scorer in both leagues.
He equaled Raul González as the club’s second-highest scorer with 44 goals for Madrid, including 15 in Europe’s top competition, and finished behind Cristiano Ronaldo.
Since Stanley Matthews, the inaugural award in 1956, was 34, Benzema is now the oldest winner.
For me, age is simply a number, he declared. Nowadays, people continue to play into their elder years, and I still have this strong passion. This motivation has kept me going and prevented me from quitting.
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Sadio Mané and Manchester City’s playmaker Kevin De Bruyne lost to Benzema in the finals. Mané participated in last year’s Liverpool season before joining Bayern Munich in the summer.
It took a lot of work, and it was a kid’s dream come true, Benzema remarked.
He succeeded Lionel Messi, who won the award for a record-extending seventh time last year but was not among the nominees this time after his first season with Paris Saint-Germain.
This year, the Ballon d’Or was awarded based on performance from the previous season for the first time. Prior to that, it had been given based on results over the course of calendar years.
The Ballon d’Or has been granted to men for 66 years and is given out by France Football magazine. The women’s trophy was introduced in 2018, and due to the pandemic, both were discontinued in 2020.
After Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini, Jean-Pierre Papin, and Zinedine Zidane, who was crowned in 1998, the year France won its first World Cup, Benzema became the fifth Frenchman to win it.
Benzema did not play for the France team that won the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but barring an injury, he will take part in the competition in Qatar the following month.
Following an almost six-year absence due to his involvement in the sex video incident, Didier Deschamps, the France coach, called up Benzema last year ahead of the European Championship, and he has since featured frequently.
“There were much more difficult moments for me, when I was not selected (with France) and I did not give up,” Benzema said after Zidane, his former coach at Madrid, handed him the trophy. “I am really proud of my career. This is the Golden Ball of the people.
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Leading an attack that also included Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo, Benzema played a crucial role last season to drive Madrid to a record-extending 14th European title, and his fifth since he joined from Lyon in 2009. The Frenchman was the tournament’s top scorer and found the net when it really mattered, with 10 of his goals in the knockout stages.
Putellas became the first player to win the accolade twice last season after tallying 42 goals and 22 assists.
She won the Spanish League and advanced to the Champions League final while playing for Barcelona. After suffering a left knee injury and having surgery on the eve of the Women’s European Championship, she has been sidelined since July.
“When I got injured I didn’t think I’d be here today, but it makes me proud to get recompense for all that hard work,” she said. “I miss playing and doing what I enjoy the most so much.
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At the presentation in Paris, Putellas triumphed against fellow forwards Sam Kerr of Chelsea and Australia and Beth Mead of Arsenal in winning the prize. The awards were chosen by an international jury of journalists.
In other awards, the Kopa Trophy for the best under-21 player went to 18-year-old Barcelona midfielder Gavi, while Robert Lewandowski won the Gerd Müller award for the best striker of the year.
Thibaut Courtois of Real Madrid received the Lev Yashin trophy for being the best goalkeeper.
The late Brazil footballer Socrates was honoured with a humanitarian award added by the Ballon d’Or organisers. Mané received the award for his humanitarian efforts in Senegal, which included the construction of a hospital and school donations.
Alexia Putellas and Karim Benzema receive Ballon d’Or prizes.
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