There was no discussion of whether Karim Benzema it was worth it Golden Ball 2021-2022: The Frenchman dominated last season, winning the Champions League and La Liga with Real Madrid and scoring 44 goals in 46 games with his team and another six goals with his team.
The Qatar 2022 World Cup has been rescheduled compared to all other World Cups in history when held at the end of the year rather than at the end of the football season in the middle of the year, and the Golden Ball award also changed its calendar this year: delivered in October to recognize the best footballer of the season that ended and not at the end of the year to choose the best of the last 365 days as was done before.
Had the World Cup not been rescheduled, Benzema would have been in impressive form to represent France in Qatar, but now November has found him injured and a tear left him unable to participate in the World Cup.
The Real Madrid star, who was only able to play in one World Cup Brazil 2014 (scored three goals as France were knocked out in the quarter-finals), is the first Ballon d’Or winner not at his World Cup more than four decades.
How did the current Ballon d’Or winners fare at the World Cup?
The Golden Ball began to be awarded 1956 Y until 1994 it could only be delivered to European footballers. For this reason, in periods of many victories for Argentina and Brazil in World Cups precisely in those seasons, it is not unusual to see that in that time no winner of the Ballon d’Or has become a champion in the next World Cup. But this has not happened until now.
Only Alfredo Di Stefano (then representing Spain) in Sweden in 1958 and Danish Allan Simonsen in Argentina 1978 had missed a World Cup as reigning Ballon d’Or kings: the two were not at the World Cup because they failed to successfully pass the Qualifiers with their teams, so Benzema is the first to miss the World Cup due to injury.
Among everything else, incredibly runner up It is the most repeated position in the World Cup: Gianni Rivera, Johan Cruyff, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Roberto Baggio and Ronaldo (later champion in 2002) were on the verge of becoming world champions as current Ballon d’Or winners.
Yes indeed, from Korea-Japan in 2002 when the last Ballon d’Or winner’s Choice failed to reach the semi-finals: Will France be able to break the spell without Karim Benzema on their roster?
| Football player | world | Selection | Races | targets | example achieved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alfredo Di Stefano | Sweden 1958 | Spain | – | – | did not rank |
| Omar Shivori | chili 1962 | Italy | two | 0 | Group stage |
| eusebio | England 1966 | Portugal | 6 | 9 | Third Place |
| Gianni Rivera | Mexico 1970 | Italy | 4 | two | runner up |
| Johan Cruyff | Germany 1974 | Netherlands | 7 | 3 | runner up |
| Alan Simonsen | Argentina 1978 | Denmark | – | – | did not rank |
| Karl Heinz Rummenigge | Spain 1982 | Germany | 6 | 5 | runner up |
| Michel Platini | Mexico 1986 | France | 6 | two | Third Place |
| Marco Van Basten | Italy 1990 | Netherlands | 4 | 0 | round 16 |
| Roberto Baggio | United States 1994 | Italy | 7 | 5 | runner up |
| Ronaldo | France 1998 | Brazil | 7 | 4 | runner up |
| Michael Owen | Korea – Japan 2002 | England | 5 | two | Quarterfinals |
| Ronaldinho | Germany 2006 | Brazil | 5 | 0 | Quarterfinals |
| Lionel Messi | South Africa 2010 | Argentina | 5 | 0 | Quarterfinals |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Brazil 2014 | Portugal | 3 | 1 | Group stage |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Russia 2018 | Portugal | 4 | 4 | round 16 |
| Karim Benzema | Qatar 2022 | France | – | – | He did not participate due to injury |
