Who Is Favourite to Win Football’s Ballon D’or?
Published Date: 12 Oct, 2022 Updated date: 12 Oct, 2022
By
Daniel Roffer
Outside of actual footballing competitions, the Ballon d’Or is the most prestigious award that can be bestowed upon a football player. Since 1956 the award has been used to commemorate the most gifted footballers to have ever graced the game
Outside of actual footballing competitions, the Ballon d’Or is the most prestigious award that can be bestowed upon a football player. Since 1956 the award has been used to commemorate the most gifted footballers to have ever graced the game. Ballon d’Or Winners find themselves in illustrious company, joining an elite rank of true superstars including Johan Cruyff, Ronaldo, and Roberto Baggio.
As football becomes ever more commercialized and media-driven, the competition has reached new levels of perceived importance. The award ceremony is a grand spectacle, with much made over potential favourites and shortlists. With the Ballon d’Or 2022 award due to be handed out on 17th October, let’s take a look at some of the favourites and see who is most likely to claim football’s biggest individual prize.
Robert Lewandowski
This summer, Bayern Munich’s seemingly unstoppable striker Robert Lewandowski was embroiled in the midst of a bitter and drawn-out move from the German Bundesliga club to Barcelona. Eventually, the deal went through, and Barcelona secured a striker who only seems to be improving with age.
In his final season with Bayern Munich Lewandowski, at the age of 33, scored a staggering 50 goals in 46 appearances in all competitions, making him one of the most prolific goal scorers on the planet. No mean feat for a man in his 30s. His move to Spain seems to have done little to hinder his goal scoring prowess, he’s netted 11 goals in 8 appearances so far for Barcelona. With such a frightening goal return and devastating finishing instincts, it’s no wonder Robert Lewandowski has many football fans betting on him to pick up this year’s Ballon d’Or.
Karim Benzema
Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema was arguably the most impactful player in world football last season. Bagging 44 goals in 46 appearances, Benzema helped Real Madrid secure the national league trophy, but it was his heroic performances in the Champions League that got the world talking about him.
The French forward proved to be a talisman for Real Madrid. He was the competition’s top scorer, netting 15 goals, many of them game-changing winners, on the Spanish titan’s route to securing a record 14th European trophy. He scored 10 of his goals in the competition’s knockout stages, including hat tricks against PSG and Chelsea. His performances in the Champions League alone have Benzema as many experts’ favorite to secure the fabled trophy.
Erling Haaland
Norwegian striker Erling Haaland was in the headlines this year as he made a £51.2 million move from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester City. Despite the forward bagging 29 goals in 30 appearances for his German club, some nay-sayers doubted his ability to do the same in the English Premier League and live up to his eye-watering price tag.
However, it would seem that the doubters were too quick to judge, Haaland has kicked off his Premier League in style, scoring 14 goals in 10 appearances so far for the English champions, establishing him as a firm favourite for this year’s Ballon d’Or.
Conclusion
The award committee this year is truly spoiled for choice. The amount of talent in leagues across Europe is unbelievable, we’ve covered just three of the favourites for the award, but other honorable mentions are Sadio Mane, Thibaut Courtois, Vinicius Junior, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who have all made the official shortlist and are in strong contention to pick up the prize.
Whoever does end up winning the Ballon d’Or 2022, it will be certain that they’ve deserved it, and we should count ourselves lucky that we’re living through a time with so much talent on display.