Men’s Ballon d’Or 2022: Full list of candidates and nominees

Image: Sporting News

Get ready for the Ballon d’Or award ceremony to crown the best footballer of the year. The ceremony will come up at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on Monday with a 20:30 CEST (2:30 pm. ET) start.

Come Monday night; the red carpet will be set alight with the biggest names in global football in Paris as the 2022 Ballon d’Or award winners will be announced. One exciting thing about this year’s award is that the organisers modified the criteria.

They confirmed that the criteria for selecting players would be based on performances from the season, not the calendar year. Unfortunately, FIFA World Cup performances won’t be considered for the 2022 Ballon d’Or.

The 66th Ballon d’Or award ceremony will see the awarding of seven prestigious awards with both men’s and women’s players of the year to be recognised along with the Kopa Trophy (for the best performing player under the age of 21) and the Yashin Trophy (for the best goalkeeper). 

The newly named Muller Award (after legendary German striker Gerd Muller) will also be confirmed for the best striker, along with the Socrates Award marking the best social initiatives within the game, along with the club of the year prize.

The 30-man shortlist was confirmed by France Football back in August, and Real Madrid and France striker Karim Benzema is highly tipped to scoop the men’s award.

The 2022 Ballon d’Or shortlist

1. Thibaut Courtois - Real Madrid
2. Rafael Leao - AC Milan
3. Christopher Nkunku - RB Leipzig
4. Mohamed Salah - Liverpool
5. Joshua Kimmich - Bayern Munich
6. Trent Alexander-Arnold - Liverpool
7. Vinicius Junior - Real Madrid
8. Bernardo Silva - Manchester City
9. Luis Diaz - Porto/Liverpool
10. Robert Lewandowski - Bayern Munich/Barcelona
11. Riyad Mahrez - Manchester City
12. Casemiro - Real Madrid/Manchester United
13. Son Heung-min - Tottenham Hotspur
14. Fabinho - Liverpool
15. Karim Benzema - Real Madrid
16. Mike Maignan - AC Milan
17. Harry Kane - Tottenham Hotspur
18. Darwin Nunez - Benfica/Liverpool
19. Phil Foden - Manchester City
20. Sadio Mane - Liverpool/Bayern Munich
21. Sebastien Haller - Ajax/Borussia Dortmund
22. Luka Modric - Real Madrid
23. Antonio Rudiger - Chelsea/Real Madrid
24. Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United
25. Kevin De Bruyne - Manchester City
26. Dusan Vlahovic - Fiorentina/Juventus
27. Virgil van Dijk - Liverpool
28. Joao Cancelo - Manchester City
29. Kylian Mbappe - Paris Saint-Germain
30. Erling Haaland - Borussia Dortmund/Manchester City

Source: en.as.com

#Karim Benzema
#Robert Lewandowski
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