2022 Ballon d'Or Final Rankings: Karim Benzema Finishes 19 Places Above Cristiano Ronaldo

Karim Benzema was named the 2022 Ballon d'Or winner after the best season of his career. Benzema came 19 places above Cristiano Ronaldo in the final rankings.

Karim Benzema was named the 2022 Ballon d'Or winner on Monday after producing the best season of his career.

The 34-year-old scored 44 goals in 46 games for Real Madrid in an incredible campaign that ended in domestic and Champions League glory.

Benzema is the first Frenchman to win the Ballon d'Or since Zinedine Zidane in 1998.

Zinédine Zidane 🤝✨ Karim Benzema#ballondor pic.twitter.com/BOiZY13ihG

— Ballon d'Or (@ballondor) October 17, 2022

Benzema topped the vote by a landslide margin, finishing way ahead of former Liverpool forward Sadio Mane in second place.

Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne finished third.

Three English players made the top 30 after all the votes had been counted.

Tottenham striker Harry Kane finished in 21st place, ahead of Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold and Man City midfielder Phil Foden in joint 22nd.

One place ahead of Kane was five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.

Karim Benzema pictured at the 2022 Ballon d'Or awards ceremony in Paris :: IMAGO/PanoramiC/JBAutissier

At 34, Benzema is the oldest winner of the Ballon d'Or since 1956 when 41-year-old Stanley Matthews was crowned.

Ronaldo was 32 when he won his most recent Ballon d'Or in 2017.

2022 Ballon d'Or Final Rankings

Rank	Player	Club(s) in 2021/22 season	Nation
1	Karim Benzema	Real Madrid	France
2	Sadio Mane	Liverpool	Senegal
3	Kevin De Bruyne	Man City	Belgium
4	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	Poland
5	Mohamed Salah	Liverpool	Egypt
6	Kylian Mbappe	PSG	France
7	Thibaut Courtois	Real Madrid	Belgium
8	Vinicius Junior	Real Madrid	Brazil
9	Luka Modric	Real Madrid	Croatia
10	Erling Haaland	Dortmund	Norway
11	Son Heung-min	Tottenham	South Korea
12	Riyad Mahrez	Man City	Algeria
13	Sebastien Haller	Ajax	Ivory Coast
=14	Rafael Leao	AC Milan	Portugal
=14	Fabinho	Liverpool	Brazil
16	Virgil van Dijk	Liverpool	Holland
=17	Casemiro	Real Madrid	Brazil
=17	Dusan Vlahovic	Fiorentina and Juventus	Serbia
=17	Luis Diaz	Porto and Liverpool	Colombia
20	Cristiano Ronaldo	Juventus and Man United	Portugal
21	Harry Kane	Tottenham	England
=22	Bernardo Silva	Man City	Portugal
=22	Trent Alexander-Arnold	Liverpool	England
=22	Phil Foden	Man City	England
=25	Joshua Kimmich	Bayern Munich	Germany
=25	Mike Maignan	AC Milan	France
=25	Antonio Rudiger	Chelsea	Germany
=25	Joao Cancelo	Man City	Portugal
=25	Christopher Nkunku	RB Leipzig	France
=25	Darwin Nunez	Benfica	Uruguay