Arsenal and England winger, Beth Mead has missed out on the 2022 Ballon d’Or to Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas.
Mead had enjoyed a strong 2021-22 season for club and country, in which she scored 34 goals – including six goals en route to the Golden Boot award at 2022 UEFA Women’s Euro, where England triumphed on home soil.
The Hinderwell-born 27 year-old however missed out on the top honour to Putellas who retained her title for a second consecutive year, despite a serious knee injury ruling her out of the Euros for Spain who ultimately lost at the Quarter-Finals stage.
Mead’s fellow Lionesses – Lucy Bronze and Millie Bright finished 10th and 15th respectively.
Women’s Super League stars, Vivianne Miedema and Sam Kerr who play for Arsenal and Chelsea respectively were ranked 11th and third following the vote.
Across in the Men’s main category, Real Madrid and France striker, Karim Benzema was crowned 2022 Men’s Ballon d’Or after he netted 44 goals in 46 matches across all competitions as he helped Real to La Liga, Supercopa de Espana and Champions League titles last season plus 2022 UEFA Super Cup.
Sadio Mane – who moved from Liverpool to Bayern Munich in June – finished second ahead of Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, whilst Robert Lewandowski finished fourth in the vote.
Here are how De Bruyne’s other Premier League stars fared in full:
- Mohamed Salah (5th – Liverpool)
- Erling Haaland (10th – Manchester City)
- Son Heung-min (11th – Tottenham Hotspur)
- Riyad Mahrez (12th – Manchester City)
- Fabinho (14th – Liverpool)
- Virgil van Dijk (16th – Liverpool)
- Luis Diaz (17th – Liverpool)
- Casemiro (17th – Manchester United)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (20th – Manchester United)
- Harry Kane (21st – Tottenham Hotspur)
- Phil Foden (22nd – Manchester City)
- Trent Alexander-Arnold (22nd – Liverpool)
- Bernardo Silva (22nd – Manchester City)
- Darwin Nunez (25th – Liverpool)
- Joao Cancelo (25th – Manchester City)
England’s Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka both missed out on the Kopa Trophy in fourth and eighth place respectively, which was won by Spain and Barcelona midfielder, Gavi.
Premier League quartet of; Alisson, Ederson, Edouard Mendy and Hugo Lloris all missed out on Yashin Trophy award for the best goalkeeper of season, which was awarded to Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois.
Lewandowski was crowned as the best striker of the year to earn the Gerd Muller Trophy, following 50 goals in 46 games for Bayern Munich.
Sadio Mane was handed the inaugural Socrates award for his charity work away from the pitch.
Manchester City were crowned club of the year despite claiming just one title last season, as the Citizens snatched the Premier League honour by just one point from Liverpool on final day of season.
List of 2022 Ballon d’Or Winners
Men’s Ballon d’Or – Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid)
Women’s Ballon d’Or – Alexia Putellas (Spain/Barcelona)
Kopa Trophy – Gavi (Spain/Barcelona)
Yashin Trophy – Thibaut Courtois (Belgium/Real Madrid)
Club of Year – Manchester City
Gerd Muller Trophy – Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Barcelona)
Socrates Award – Sadio Mane