Sports

Benzema, Putellas Win 2022 Ballon d’ Or Awards

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema on Monday night was crowned the winner of the 2022 Ballon d’Or award beating the competition posed by Sadio Mane (2nd) and Kevin De Bruyne (3rd) among other world class football talents.

The 2022 awards is the 66th edition of the top award ceremony.

Benzema helped the Los Merengues win the UEFA Champions League and also the LA Liga in Spain.

For the first time, the duo of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were not in the top three aawardees. Messi was not even in the top 30 list while Ronaldo finished in 20th place.

The award was given based on the performances of players, and teams for the previous season and not the calendar year.

Sadio Mane was, handed The Special award in recognition of the great Socrates of Brazil for his Humanitarian work in his native Senegal.

Nigeria and Barcelona Femini striker Asisat Oshoala made history as the first African women’s player to be nominated for the prize as she finished in 16th place from a list of 30.

Barcelona Femeni captain Alexia Putellas won the award for the second time in successive seasons. Putellas, 28, suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the summer and missed Spain’s Euro 2022 campaign.

Manchester City was awarded the team of the season, Gavi scooped the prize for the Kopa trophy reserved for the best U-21 players while Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtouis won the Yashin award for the best goalkeeper award.

The Ballon d’Or award is organised by France Football magazine.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.