Paris shined in the brightest of lights as the international football scene’s biggest names celebrated iconic football player Karim Benzema, for winning the 66 Ballon d’Or grand trophy.
It was tonight’s most awaited award: “Player of the year.” To present it, award-winning player and iconic coach, Zinedine Zidane who previously won the Ballon d’Or in 1998, was called on stage.
The great Real Madrid player, French Algerian Karim Benzema won the 2022 Ballon d’Or which comes as no surprise.
The crowd that has the world’s biggest celebrities chanted his name loud and clear, as soon as it was announced.
With teary eyes, Benzema said that he is very proud of himself, especially for never giving up.
“I grew up with this dream in me,” said the winner explaining that he never gave up even when he was not selected for the award.
He was always hopeful that one day he will win.
Benzema said he is satisfied with his work and that he will continue this way, he thanked his Real Madrid colleagues and the club’s president, Florentino Perez, whom he now considers as family, recalling that Perez went all the way to France to sign him for Real Madrid many years ago “which shows how great of a man he is.”
“This is the peoples’ Ballon d’Or”, said the Benzema.
A video of his greatest achievements played featuring his colleagues, coaches, and his old club’s president.
Karim was never in a rush, he always knew that one day he will play for Real Madrid and that he will eventually win the world’s most prestigious football award.
He was in Cristiano Ronaldo’s shadow for the longest time but once Cristiano left, everyone noticed that Benzema brings Real Madrid together and leads with glory.
His obsession was never to be one with the most goals, said Jose Mourinho, his old Real Madrid coach. “He is a team player.”
“He is like a good wine, he gets better when he ages,” said Carlo Ancelotti, his current coach.
Benzema affirmed that he would much rather have fun on the field than score the biggest number of goals.
His biggest supporters, his beloved mother, his father, and his youngest son Ibrahim were called on stage.
Benzema is now the oldest Ballon d’Or winner after the very first player who ever won the award and was 41 when he did.
Karim is now 34 and believes that age doesn’t really matter.
His mother, Malika Benzema expressed how proud she is of her son for achieving his dreams.
Ronaldo Nazario who previously won the same trophy as a Real Madrid player and who’s currently dealing with health issues could not miss this year’s ceremony to show his support for Benzema.
He celebrated his win with his family in front of an audience that believed in him and supported him unconditionally.
Prior to the ceremony, the trophy arrived in style, hooked to an F1 supercar and pacing through Parisian streets. The driver is none other than Esteban José Khelfane, the famous French formula one athlete.
The ceremony was opened by the great Italian singer Andrea Bocelli who delivered a heartfelt performance.
The presenters, football player Didier Drogba, and French British journalist Sandy Heribert announced the nominees for the trophies.
The ceremony’s first trophy was the best rookie of the season, presented by Ronaldo Nazario, a previous Ballon d’Or winner, and Pedri Lopez, who won the KOPA trophy for the best promising player in 2021.
FC Barcelona’s 18 years old player Pablo Martín Páez Gavira, known as Gavi won the award.
He was also awarded a Ballon d’Or NFT.
What followed was the Socrates Award, named after the late Brazilian player Socrates De Souza, a new addition to this year’s award list.
Senegalese football player Sadio Mané was handed the award by Socrates’ brother, for his endless charity works in Senegal.
The next category was feminine football. Andriy Chevtchenko, the 2004 male Ballon d’Or winner was called to present the award. The player expressed how saddened he is by everything that is happening in Ukraine. In tears, he reminded everyone that the war is still going on and that people are still suffering.
The award went to the Spanish Alexia Putellas, FC Barcelona’s captain; this is her second time winning the award.
The Gerd Muller Trophy went to the iconic goalkeeper Robert Lewandowski, who surpassed the late Gerd Muller’s records for the biggest number of goals saved.
The best goalkeeper award, called the Yashin award after the late Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin was presented by French ivory player Sebastian Haller who sadly fights for his life against cancer and spoke of his battle.
As expected by many, Belgian Thibaut Courtois won the award. The esteemed player had a remarkable performance this year and counts as a key reason of the Real Madrid club won the last champions league and the Spanish league known as la Liga.
His football manager Carlo Ancelloti has once called him the best of all time.
Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was ranked 9 best goalkeepers in the world in the Yashin category.
For the club of the year award, Portuguese Luis Figo took the stage to present the trophy 22 years after he won the best player.
The British football club Manchester city happily won the award.
On the NFTs given to the winners, L’Équipe group, the ceremony organizers took a chance to launch into the Web3 universe by creating NFT trophies to go with the actual ones.
This ‘virtual’ trophy is unique in terms of its metadata and will forever be anchored on the blockchain, the technology behind NFTs.
These NFT tokens include an unforgeable certificate of authenticity guaranteeing official ownership to its sole holder.
At the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, a collection of NFT Ballon d’Or is thus created, with many associated advantages. Each NFT will allow access to exceptional services.
Tonight is one for the books, Benzema was awarded for his life long achievements in international football as a Real Madrid player and for playing in the French National team.
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