Messi, with seven trophies, and Cristiano, with five, are the players who have won the prize that distinguishes the footballer of the year the most times
In this edition neither of them appears among the applicants: Benzema, the clear favorite
The Ballon d’Or enters retirement age, completing 66 editions this season. The award that distinguishes the best footballer of the year came to light at the same time as the birth of the European Cup, choosing as winners until 1995 players who had only and exclusively European nationality depriving Pelé or Maradona through this norm of having won a gold medal.
It is an award that has enjoyed great rivalries such as the one between Messi and Cristiano in the last decade or that between Platini and Van Basten in the 80s.
‘The Phenomenon’, the earliest
The youngest winner of this award was Ronaldo Nazario, who did it with just 21 years and 92 days when he was a member of the ranks of Inter Milan in 1997 and also became the first South American to achieve it. The Brazilian is one of a select list of multiple award winners that includes Di Stéfano, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Keegan, Rummenigge, Platini, Van Basten and the aforementioned Ronaldo.Kaká was the last Ballon d’Or, back in 2007, to win the trophy before Messi and Cristiano They monopolized him for 13 years with a brief interruption from Luka Modric in 2018. In total, the Argentine has seven Ballon d’Ors for the five of the Portuguese, who came to equal him in 2017 after winning several consecutive Champions Leagues with Real Madrid.
Cristiano won his first Ballon d’Or at the age of 23, while Messi did so at 22. At the age of 34, the Argentine won the trophy at a veteran age, but not by far the bulkiest. In the year of the premiere of the award, the Englishman Stanley Matthews kept it at the age of 41 playing for Blackpool. We do not want to say that it was a robbery that he won Alfredo Di Stéfano by three votes in his splendor, but something strange smells of that award.
Benzema Ballon d’Or 2022?
This 2022 season, a renewal is expected regarding the winner of the Ballon d’Or. Messi has it impossible after getting his worst goalscoring records since fry at Paris Saint Germain. With Cristiano Ronaldo, three quarters of the same thing happens with the addition that Manchester United has been far from being a benchmark team. Everything indicates that Benzema or Salah – whoever wins the Champions League – will win a prize in which does not count the World Cup performance from the month of November.