Karim Benzema is Europe’s Footballer of the Year for the first time – by a huge margin. After an impressive season, there was practically no way around the Frenchman.
As the competition’s top scorer, Karim Benzema led Real Madrid to the Spanish championship and Champions League win – in the 2021/22 club season, arguably no individualist stood out as much as the already 34-year-old Frenchman. Now he is also Europe’s Footballer of the Year 2022, it is the first major individual award in Benzema’s title-packed career.
On Thursday, as part of the Champions League draw in Istanbul, the Real goalscorer received the award for the first time, which UEFA has presented annually since 2011 in cooperation with the European Sports Media (ESM), under the auspices of the. Benzema beat teammate Thibaut Courtois and Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne by a wide margin in the vote. 523 votes went to the French attacker, with De Bruyne following close behind with 122 votes, ahead of Courtois (118).
“I don’t have to prove anything to anyone,” Benzema said at a press conference after the award ceremony. “It’s always about dreams. Whether that’s the World Cup title, the CL title, individual awards like this or the Ballon d’Or – you all have those dreams as a kid.” World Cup participation in Qatar would be “something extraordinary”. Benzema (who failed to reach Germany in Brazil in 2014) still lacks a major title with the Equipe Tricolore in his collection.
Lewandowski in ungrateful fourth place
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern, now Barcelona) came in a thankless fourth among the players with 54 votes. Behind the Pole, Luka Modric (Real Madrid, 52), Sadio Mané (Liverpool, now Bayern, 51), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC, 46), Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain, 25), Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid, 21) and Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool FC, 19) joined the top ten. With Filip Kostic (Frankfurt, now Juventus), another former Bundesliga player made it into the top 15 in twelfth place (seven votes).
All coaches of clubs that participated in the group stages of the 2021/22 Champions, Europa and Europa Conference Leagues, as well as 55 journalists selected by the ESM – one from each UEFA member association – were eligible to vote.
Benzema replaces Chelsea’s midfield threat Jorginho, who unsurprisingly didn’t even make the top 15 this year.
Also thanks to Benzema: Real’s first title in 2022/23 already wrapped up
In 46 competitive games, Benzema scored a remarkable 44 goals in pre-season. In the Champions League, the versatile centre-forward scored 15 goals in 12 games, surpassing even Robert Lewandowski (13) and Sebastien Haller (11).
Benzema won another title with Real at the beginning of the new season: In the European Supercup, the royals blew away Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt – and of course Benzema scored the decisive second goal in the 2-0 win.
The top 15 at a glance:
1. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) – 523 votes
2. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) – 122 votes
3 Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) – 118 votes
4. Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern, now Barcelona) – 54 votes
5 Luka Modric (Real Madrid) – 52 votes
6. Sadio Mané (Liverpool FC, now FC Bayern) – 51 votes
7. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC) – 46 votes
8. Kylian Mbappé (PSG) – 25 votes
9. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid) – 21 votes
10: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool FC) – 19 votes
11. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City) – 7 votes
12. Filip Kostic (Eintracht Frankfurt) – 7 votes
13 – Lorenzo Pellegrini (AS Roma) – 5 votes
14: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool FC) – 2 votes
15. fabinho (Liverpool FC) – 1 vote
