Will there be any debate this year?

It appears, for the first time in longer than a decade, the awarding of the Ballon d’Or will not be met with resistance due to the incredible 2021/22 season Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema enjoyed. The Frenchman has been in magnificent form since becoming Los Blancos’ leading man following Ronaldo’s 2018 move to Juventus, but his game reached new heights in the previous campaign as he played a hand in 59 goals in 46 appearances. Benzema scored 44 times, including 15 in just 12 games in Real’s UEFA Champions League-winning campaign, displays for which he was later awarded the competition’s Player of the Season accolade. The 34-year-old also claimed the LaLiga top goalscorer prize with 27 goals in 32 matches. It is for these reasons that the former Olympique Lyon front man is widely considered the favourite to win the 2022 edition of the Ballon d’Or, which was last won by a French footballer in 1998 when then-Juventus midfielder Zinedine Zidane beat the likes of Davor Suker, Ronaldo Nazario and Michael Owen to the award.