Lionel Messi won a record seventh Ballon d’Or, ahead of Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski and Chelsea’s Jorginho. Chelsea, meanwhile, were named the Club of the Year in France Football’s awards ceremony.
Messi collected his seventh Ballon d’Or at the Theatre du Chatelet on Monday night, setting a new milestone in the process. The former Barcelona and the current Paris Saint-Germain attacker was also the last recipient of the award when it took place two years ago in 2019 and is currently two ahead of his closest rival Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of the silverware.
The Argentine, who went on an outstanding run in the second half to the previous season during which he helped sustain Barcelona’s title challenge and led Argentina to a Copa America title, beat Robert Lewandowski by 33 points to win the Ballon d’Or. Jorginho completed the podium thanks to his influential role in Chelsea’s Champions League and Italy’s European Championship wins.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who remains Messi’s closest competitor at these awards, finished sixth in the standings, behind former teammate Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante.
Mohamed Salah, Kevin De Bruyne, Kylian Mbappe, and Gianluigi Donnarumma completed the top ten in the men’s category. Furthermore, the Italian also took home with him the Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper of the year. The Italian beat Chelsea custodian Edouard Mendy to the title by almost 200 votes.
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Barcelona Femeni took home two of the three available podium finishes in the Ballon d’Or Feminin. Alexia Putellas capped a sensational year – during which she also won the Women’s Champions League – by taking home the trophy. Barca’s Jennifer Hermoso came in second, 102 points behind her teammate, while Chelsea’s Sam Kerr rounded up the podium.
19-year-old Pedri was announced as the winner of the Kopa Trophy – the Ballon d’Or equivalent for players under the age of 21. The Barcelona star added to his trophy collection, having been named the Young Player of the Tournament at last summer’s European Championship.
France Football introduced two new awards on the evening: the Best Forward of the Year and the Club of the Year. Lewandowski claimed the former with 54 goals to his name in the calendar year. Meanwhile, Chelsea took home the latter, with ten representatives across all categories.
