Official: 2022 Ballon d'Or Nominees Announced
13 August, 2022
France Football, the organisers of the Ballon d'Or award, has officially announced all of the nominees for the 2022 edition of the prestigious prize that was won by Lionel Messi last year.
The nominees for the accolade have been confirmed by France Football, which in 2021 awarded the individual prize to Argentina captain Messi following his Copa America triumph in Brazil.
Former Liverpool winger Sadio Mane and his ex-colleague Mohamed Salah were named on the list of candidates for the latest edition of the prize, as was Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe, who is the second best goalscorer at club level in Europe's top five leagues in 2022 so far. Real Madrid stars Thibaut Courtois and Vinicius Junior also made the cut, along with the player many believe is the out-and-out favourite for the award, Karim Benzema.
The striker has been in sensational form in recent seasons, ending the previous campaign with 59 goal contributions in 46 matches across all competitions as he helped inspire Los Blancos to LaLiga and UEFA Champions League glory.
Full nominees list:
Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid/Belgium)
Rafael Leao (AC Milan/Portugal)
Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig/France)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/Egypt)
Joshua Kimmich (FC Bayern/Germany)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool/England)
Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid/Brazil)
Bernardo Silva (Manchester City/Portugal)
Luis Diaz (Liverpool/Porto/Colombia)
Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona/Bayern Munich/Poland)
Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City/Algeria)
Casemiro (Brazil/Real Madrid)
Hueng-Min Son (Tottenham Hotspur/South Korea)
Fabinho (Liverpool/Brazil)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/France)
Mike Maignan (AC Milan/France)
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspurs/England)
Darwin Nunez (Benfica/Liverpool/Uruguay)
Phil Foden (Manchester City/England)
Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich/Liverpool/Senegal)
Sebastien Haller (Ajax/Borussia Dortmund/Ivory Coast)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid/Croatia)
Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea/Real Madrid/Germany)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United/Portugal)
Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City/Belgium)
Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus/Serbia)
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool/Netherlands)
Joao Cancelo (Manchester City/Joao Cancelo)
Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain/France)
Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund/Manchester City/Norway)
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za
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