LIVE – Ballon d’Or: follow the 66th ceremony at the Théâtre du Châtelet
Jean-Baptiste Sarrazin
modified to
8:47 p.m., October 17, 2022
Barcelona’s Gavi wins the Raymond Kopa Trophy. From the height of his 18 years, the protege of Xavi is elected best young player of the year. He succeeds his compatriot Pedri crowned in 2021.
The ceremony is open
Didier Drogba and Sandy Héribert, the two masters of ceremony, entered the stage of the Chatelet theatre. The first prize, the Kopa Trophy will be awarded by former footballer Ronaldo.
The ceremony has started. Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli opens the ceremony with an emotional performance. He performs in front of a giant screen on which scroll the photos of the various winners since the creation of the Ballon d’Or. The first award given will be that of the best young rider with the Kopa Trophy. It will then be the turn of the Women’s Ballon d’Or, then the Yachine Trophy (best goalkeeper). The presentation of the Ballon d’Or will close the evening.
Highlights:
-Barcelonnais Gavi wins the Raymond Kopa Trophy for best young player. He succeeds another Spaniard, Pedri
-Italian tenor Andre Bocelli opened the ceremony with an emotional stage performance
-Esteban Ocon, French Formula 1 driver, was in charge of transporting the Ballon d’Or inside the Théâtre du Châtelet
-The three favorites Robert Lewandowski, Sadio Mané and Karim Benzema arrived at the ceremony
-Zinédine Zidane, the last Frenchman to win the Ballon d’Or (1998), arrived at the Théâtre du Châtelet
-Karim Benzema is the main favorite to succeed Lionel Messi
Esteban Ocon brings the Ballon d’Or
The Ballon d’Or trophy is brought by Esteban Ocon, Formula 1 driver from the Alpine team.
The trophy was securely hung on the racing car in which Esteban Ocon arrived. Dressed in his official jumpsuit, he wore the Ballon d’Or on the red carpet rolled out for the occasion.
Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé have arrived
Karim Benzema has arrived at the Théâtre du Châtelet. The Real Madrid player reacted when he arrived: “I’m happy, very happy to be here. I’m proud to be here already, just because it’s the first time. So afterwards… we’ll see. We are going to love the moment, smiled the striker during his passage on the red carpet. [Un moment fort dans la saison?] I would take up the whole season, I don’t have a match in particular because we played a lot of very high level matches. But in the end I would say victory in the Champions League. [Qu’est-ce qui vous traverse l’esprit?] Everything, everything everything. From a very young age, since I started playing football. Now we’ll see but I’m very happy to be here.”
The other Frenchman also finalist, Frenchman Kylian Mbappé is also on site. The Paris Saint-Germain player who has gone through difficult last days is guaranteed to be in the Top 10 but he is not one of the three big favorites. The title should be played between the Pole Robert Lewandowski, the Senegalese Sadio Mané, and the French Karim Benzema.
The trophy on board an F1
Small surprise of this ceremony, the Ballon d’Or will be accompanied by a Formula 1 car, an Alpine. The car of the French firm is near the deposit of the players. While the Paris Motor Show is in full swing, the sports car brand, Alpine is the new official partner of the Ballon d’Or.
Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasly is also present at the ceremony.
The list of Top 10 players
The 10 players still in the running to win the Ballon d’Or are: Karim Benzema, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland, Robert Lewandowski, Sadio Mané, Kylian Mbappé, Luka Modric, Mohamed Salah, Vinicius Jr. 30th to 11th place is already known. Players still in the trophy race will know their ranking from 8 p.m.
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