Nathan News

Finally, the eternal understudy takes center stage. Karim Benzema has spent much of his career as a glittering support act for Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo, and more recently Kylian Mbappé. Now, two months before his 35th birthday, he has the jewel that sets him apart as a star in his own right: a Ballon d’Or.

Benzema, who for months has been the overwhelming favorite to win the 2022 edition of the world’s best footballer, accepted his award at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on Monday. Sadio Mané, who guided Senegal to Africa Cup of Nations victory, was second, with Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne third. Benzema had described victory as his “dream since childhood”; He had to wait a little longer than he might have expected to see it come true.

France Football, the magazine that has awarded the Ballon d’Or, football’s most famous individual award, since 1956, had announced that voting for this year’s edition would be subject to what Pascal Ferré, the publication’s editor, called a “little makeover.” ‘ to maintain its relevance and polish its accuracy.

Instead of 176 journalists from around the world voting on the final winners, only the top 100 nations in the global FIFA rankings would decide the men’s prize and the top 50 the women’s prize. (Ferré said more than a little disparagingly that this new “elite” panel represents the “true connoisseurs” of the game.)

Perhaps most importantly, the voting criteria were spelled out more clearly: the magazine instructed its judges that individual performance over the past season should outweigh team success and that a player’s broader career should not be relevant at all. Ferré hoped this measure – which was clearly aimed at those who could be seen as legacy voters for Messi and Ronaldo – would make the Ballon d’Or an “open competition and not a reserve”.

Of course, at first glance, one might think that these changes made a difference in determining the outcome. After all, it is only the second time since 2008 that a player other than Messi or Ronaldo has been named best in the world. (Benzema’s Real Madrid team-mate Luka Modric was the other exception in 2018.) It’s the first time since 2006 that neither man has at least made the podium. Ronaldo finished 10th after a disappointing year at Manchester United. Messi, last year’s winner, didn’t even make the shortlist.

And yet this assessment runs the risk of turning Benzema’s triumph not only into a subplot in a story about the downfall of Messi and Ronaldo, but also of ignoring the context for his victory. Whatever changes France Football announced, whatever criteria were emphasized, Benzema’s season was such a remarkable one that it’s hard to imagine how he wouldn’t have won.

The rough gauges are of course the trophies – his fifth Champions League title, another Spanish title – and the goals: 27 in La Liga, 15 in just a dozen games in Europe. However, even these numbers do not capture its impact. Benzema might not have been the decisive player in the Champions League final, an honor befitting his team-mate Vinícius Júnior, but he was undoubtedly the pivotal figure in Real’s road to the final in Paris.

It was Benzema who scored a quick hat-trick in the round of 16 of the competition to see Real Madrid through at the expense of Paris St-Germain and it was Benzema who scored another in the first leg of the quarter-finals with Chelsea. When that advantage seemed wasted in the second leg, it was Benzema who put Real Madrid through the rounds again and scored the goal in extra time that secured their place in the semis.

There, in a dizzying first leg against Manchester City, he not only scored twice but nervously converted the penalty that completed another exceptional Real comeback at the Santiago Bernabéu. Benzema didn’t win the Ballon d’Or because Messi and Ronaldo finally fell to earth. He did this because over the past year or so he has attained their heavenly level.

Even with Ferré’s move, the Ballon d’Or remains an inherently odd phenomenon, illustrated most clearly by the absence of the top player at the summer’s European Women’s Championship, England’s Keira Walsh, even from the women’s award shortlist, won by Barcelona instead injured star Alexia Putellas for the second year in a row.

But Benzema’s win is justifiable and perhaps overdue recognition for a player who has devoted much of his career to an even brighter star.

Benzema joined Real Madrid the same summer as Ronaldo, albeit to slightly less fanfare. In his first decade at the club, the Frenchman’s role was essentially secondary to that of the Portuguese; he was there to give Ronaldo the space and ammo he needed to maintain his overwhelming effectiveness.

It wasn’t until Ronaldo left in the summer of 2018 that Benzema was finally able to take center stage and become the headline news his talent had always suggested. That he had to wait so long to flourish of his own accord is a measure of the high bar that Messi and Ronaldo have set and the challenge of thriving in an era defined by two greats.

Benzema’s win, coupled with the absence of the two players who have swapped that accolade between the top three for more than a decade, suggests the era is now over, although an unexpected World Cup win for both allows them one last hurray could.

However, it does not herald the beginning of a new era. Benzema will be 35 in December. It was a glorious fall, but it’s still fall. The future lies with the other names on the list, with Erling Haaland and Mbappé and Phil Foden and Vinicíus. Your time will come, and soon. But for now, today finally belongs to Benzema.