Ballon d'Or: Karim Benzema wins award as best player in world football for first time

Real Madrid and France guardant Karim Benzema has won the Ballon d'Or - awarded to the champion footballer of the twelvemonth - for the archetypal time.

Lionel Messi (seven) and Cristiano Ronaldo (five) had won the grant connected 12 of the erstwhile 13 occasions.

Barcelona's Alexia Putellas retained the Women's Ballon d'Or, awarded to the champion best pistillate footballer of 2022.

England Euro 2022 victor and Arsenal guardant Beth Mead was second.

Premier League champions Manchester City, who had six nominees astatine the ceremony, were awarded Club of the Year up of Liverpool.

The Ballon d'Or is awarded to the champion footballer of the year, based connected show implicit the 2021-22 season.

• 2022 Ballon d'Or ceremonial arsenic it happened

First Frenchman since 1998 to triumph prize

Monday's ceremonial successful Paris saw French F1 operator Esteban Ocon get astatine the Theatre du Chatelet with the Ballon d'Or trophy successful a racing car.

Benzema is the archetypal Frenchman to triumph the prestigious grant since Zinedine Zidane successful 1998. Zidane was astatine the lawsuit to contiguous his countryman with the prize.

• How Zidane went from 'the lad called Yaz' to World Cup glory

Benzema was the overwhelming favourite to triumph this year's award.

His 44 goals included a hat-trick successful 17 second-half minutes against Paris Saint-Germain successful the Champions League, and different distant to Chelsea successful the quarter-final archetypal leg.

He besides scored 3 much goals implicit 2 legs of the semi-final against Manchester City.

The 34-year-old, who has been astatine Real Madrid since 2009, is expected to play a cardinal relation for France astatine the World Cup successful Qatar which starts connected 20 November.

The Ballon d'Or is voted for by 100 journalists from astir the world.

More to follow.

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