Ballon d'Or 2022: The favourites - ranked
By Sean Walsh
France Football has released its 30-player shortlist for the 2022 Ballon d'Or, and the headline news was that Lionel Messi was not among the nominees for the first time since 2005.
While the Argentine's omission was slightly controversial (it's not as if he was going to win the award anyway), a universally popular choice has been for players to be judged over the course of a season rather than a calendar year, making it a bit easier to rate just how they did.
We've sliced France Football's shortlist in half to give us 15 frontrunners and ranked them based on their chances of winning. Let's get stuck in.
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15. Rafael Leao
Club: AC Milan
Relevant stats: 51 games, 18 goals, 18 assists
Team honours: Serie A
Individual honours: Serie A MVP
23-year-old Leao has been touted to become a superstar for a few years now, and this was the season where he stepped up, leading Milan's charge to their first Scudetto since 2011.
14. Joao Cancelo
Club: Manchester City
Relevant stats: 61 games, 4 goals, 13 assists, 25 clean sheets
Team honours: Premier League
Individual honours: PFA Team of the Year
Whether playing on the left or the right, attacking full-back Cancelo became a staple of Manchester City's title-winning side, moving away from Pep Guardiola's FPL rotation and becoming a key man.
13. Bernardo Silva
Club: Manchester City
Relevant stats: 60 games, 15 goals, 11 assists
Team honours: Premier League
Individual honours: PFA Team of the Year
For a brief period at the start of the season, Silva looked to be making a charge for the PFA Player of the Year award. His form tailed off a little, but he was still one of the Premier League's most impressive players.
12. Son Heung-min
Club: Tottenham Hotspur
Relevant stats: 55 games, 27 goals, 10 assists
Team honours: None
Individual honours: Premier League Golden Boot
23 Premier League goals, zero penalties. Somehow omitted from the PFA Team of the Year. Yes, I'm still angry about it.
11. Thibaut Courtois
Club: Real Madrid
Relevant stats: 59 games, 24 clean sheets
Team honours: La Liga, Champions League, Supercopa de Espana
Individual honours: Champions League Team of the Season, Champions League final Man of the Match
Courtois has spoken at length about how he feels disrespected by the media, that he's perennially underrated. He silenced all of his doubters last season.
10. Joshua Kimmich
Club: Bayern Munich
Relevant stats:48 games, 4 goals, 16 assists
Team honours: Bundesliga
Individual honours: Bundesliga Team of the Season
There hasn't been as much hype around Kimmich this year, but that's just how lofty his standards are now. He's still unbelievable.
9. Christopher Nkunku
Club: RB Leipzig
Relevant stats: 60 games, 37 goals, 20 assists
Team honours: DFB-Pokal
Individual honours: Bundesliga Player of the Season, Bundesliga Team of the Season, Europa League Team of the Season
Nkunku has been bubbling away as a top player for Leipzig, but last season made him too good to leave out of conversations like this. Perhaps the biggest sign of his progress is the new widespread incredulity that PSG ever let him leave.
8. Kylian Mbappe
Club: Paris Saint-Germain
Relevant stats: 56 games, 50 goals, 26 assists
Team honours: Ligue 1
Individual honours: Ligue 1 Player of the Year, Ligue 1 Team of the Year, Ligue 1 Top Goalscorer, Champions League Team of the Season
Hey, speaking of PSG...
Mbappe may still not have won the Champions League, but it certainly wasn't for the want of trying - he put Real Madrid to the sword, his teammates didn't follow.
7. Luka Modric
Club: Real Madrid
Relevant stats: 52 games, 5 goals, 13 assists
Team honours: La Liga, Champions League, Supercopa de Espana
Individual honours: Champions League Team of the Season, Football Oscar for Best Croatian Player
Where Mbappe failed though, Modric and co succeeded, with the Croatian continuing to age like a fine wine and picking his moments when to take his game up a few gears.
6. Robert Lewandowski
Club: Bayern Munich/Barcelona
Relevant stats: 56 games, 62 goals, 9 assists
Team honours: Bundesliga
Individual honours: European Golden Shoe, Bundesliga Team of the Season, Bundesliga Top Goalscorer
The only player in this to have scored more goals than to have games played last season. Lewandowski's still got it.
5. Sadio Mane
Club: Liverpool/Bayern Munich
Relevant stats: 61 games, 27 goals, 6 assists
Team honours: EFL Cup, FA Cup, DFL-Supercup, AFCON (with Senegal)
Individual honours: PFA Team of the Year, African Footballer of the Year
After an off year by his own expectations, Mane came roaring back with a vengeance. There's every chance he'll rank even higher next year after moving to Bayern, too.
4. Vinicius Junior
Club: Real Madrid
Relevant stats: 61 games, 28 goals, 14 assists
Team honours: La Liga, Champions League, Supercopa de Espana
Individual honours: Champions League Team of the Season, Champions League Young Player of the Season
Remember when Karim Benzema insisted that Vinicius was 'playing against' Real Madrid? Seems a million years ago now, eh?
3. Kevin De Bruyne
Club: Manchester City
Relevant stats: 53 games, 19 goals, 22 assists
Team honours: Premier League
Individual honours: PFA Team of the Year, Champions League Team of the Season, Premier League Player of the Season
The only thing that's capable of stopping De Bruyne is injuries, and thankfully those were few and far between last season.
2. Mohamed Salah
Club: Liverpool
Relevant stats: 60 games, 34 goals, 19 assists
Team honours: EFL Cup, FA Cup
Individual honours: PFA Player of the Year, PFA Team of the Year, FWA Men's Footballer of the Year, Premier League Golden Boot, Premier League Playmaker Award
As you can see by his footballing CV, Salah was pretty obviously the best player in England last season. Unfortunately for him, someone else on the continent trumped even his achievements.
1. Karim Benzema
Club: Real Madrid
Relevant stats: 52 games, 47 goals, 16 assists
Team honours: La Liga, Champions League, Supercopa de Espana
Individual honours: La Liga Best Player, La Liga Team of the Season, Champions League Player of the Season, Champions League Team of the Season, UEFA Men's Player of the Year, Pichichi Trophy
If Benzema doesn't win the 2022 Ballon d'Or then I will eat a shoe. Screenshot this, save it, frame it for all I care. It's set in stone and deservedly so.