Ballon d’Or: Final Rankings As Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema Wins Prestigious Award

• Karim Benzema deservedly received the 2022 Ballon d'Or prize on the back of his tremendous campaign last season
• Aside from Benzema, Bayern Munich's Sadio Mane and Man City's Kevin De Bruyne made the podium for this year's edition of the ceremony
• Surprisingly, neither seven-time winner Lionel Messi nor his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Neymar made the cut in the top 10 rankings

Karim Benzema clinched football's most prestigious award ahead of Bayern Munich's Sadio Mane and Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne on Monday night.

The Frenchman unsurprisingly scooped home the 2022 edition of the Ballon d'Or following an impressive 2021-22 season with Real Madrid.

He etched his name into history as he won the Ballon d'Or prize, the first French player to win the individual prize since Zidane in 1998.

France Football, organizers of the Ballon d'Or awards, has revealed the final standings of where all 30 ranked after the final voting but Sports Brief takes a look at the top 10 ranked players for the award.

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10. Erling-Braut Haaland

Haaland's final season with Borussia Dortmund was punctuated with niggling injuries however, the prolific Norwegian mustered an impressive goal-to-game ratio.

He has begun life at Man City on an electric note, averaging a goal every 57 minutes.

9. Luka Modric - Real Madrid

The mercurial midfielder has been the true definition of 'age is just a number'.

The 2018 Ballon d'Or winner conjured magic from midfield orchestrating Madrid's impressive success from the engine room.

8. Vinicius Junior - Real Madrid

Vinicius saved his best performance in the twilight of the season, coming up clutch in the Champions League finals, scoring the only goal as Los Blancos secured its 14th title.

7. Thibaut Courtois - Real Madrid

Courtois picked up the Yachine Trophy during Monday's ceremony as the world's best goalkeeper on the back of his splendid season with Madrid.

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He crowned his season with a man-of-the-match performance in the Champions League finals against Liverpool.

6. Kylian Mbappe - Paris Saint-Germain

The Frenchman was the only player from PSG's much-talked-about front three comprising Neymar and Messi to make the top 10.

Mbappe rose to the billing, carrying Les Parisiens to domestic success, while his superstar teammates had a season to forget.

5. Mohamed Salah - Liverpool

Salah had a mixed bag of fortunes last term, suffering heartbreaks at the international level as Egypt lost out to Mane's Senegal in the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations and missed out on World Cup qualification to the same team.

He however won the top scorer's award in England while helping Liverpool win the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.

4. Robert Lewandowski - Bayern Munich

The Polish goal-scoring machine bagged over 50 goals for Bayern Munich in the year under review, clinching the Gerd Muller trophy as the best striker in the 2021-22 season.

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Currently playing for Barcelona, Lewandowski has continued his goal-scoring form at Camp Nou notching 14 goals this season.

3. Kevin De Bruyne - Manchester City

De Bruyne scored a number of crucial goals in Man City's journey to the English Premier League trophy.

2. Sadio Mane - Bayern Munich

The 30-year-old Bayern Munich forward became the first African to finish on the Ball d'Or podium since George Weah won the individual diadem in 1995.

Mane's last season with Liverpool saw him miss out on the Premier League and Champions League titles but was hugely successful with Senegal, winning the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations.

1. Karim Benzema - Real Madrid

Benzema was the overriding favourite to win this year's edition of the Ballon d'Or and as expected the 35-year-old won the Golden Ball prize, Daily Mail reports.

He netted 44 goals in 46 matches, picking the winners' medals in the Champions League, La Liga and UEFA Nations League in the year under review.

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Mourinho pays tribute to Benzema

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that Jose Mourinho has sent a glorious message to his former striker at Real Madrid, Karim Benzema, following his Ballon d'Or victory.

Benzema was finally rewarded with the highest individual gong in football following his exploits with Real Madrid last season.

The French striker led his club to La Liga and Champions League successes beating Sadio Mane, Robert Lewandowski and Kevin De Bruyne to the 2022 prize.