The Ballon d'Or award.. France Football announces the winner tomorrow

 France Football magazine will reveal the winners of the Ballon d'Or award for the best female footballer in the world for the 2021-2022 season. The Ballon d'Or handover ceremony will be held at Chatelier Theater in the French capital, Paris, at 7:00 pm GMT.

Among the most prominent candidates for the award in the said season, the star of the French national team and Real Madrid, Karim Benzema, who was nominated by many players and specialized newspapers, after a very successful season for him, in light of the fading of other stars that had previously dominated the Golden Ball, such as Argentine Lionel Messi The Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo.

Here are some of the most prominent nominees for the 30-player Ballon d'Or award, and they are as follows:

Belgian Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid).

Egyptian Mohamed Salah (Liverpool).

England's Alexander Arlund (Liverpool).

Brazilian Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid).

Portuguese Bernardo Silva (Manchester City).

Poland's Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich/Barcelona).

Algerian Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City).

Brazilian Casemiro (Real Madrid/Manchester United).

South Korea's Heung-Min Son (Tottenham Hotspur).

French Karim Benzema (Real Madrid).

England's Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur).

England's Phil Foden (Manchester City).

Senegalese Sadio Mane (Liverpool / Bayern Munich).

Croatian Luka Modric (Real Madrid).

Belgian Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City).

Norwegian Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund / Manchester City).

French Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain).

Benzema is an extraordinary candidate

Real Madrid striker, French international Karim Benzema, appears to be an extraordinary candidate to win the Ballon d'Or this year, becoming the first Frenchman to win the prestigious award since Zinedine Zidane after nearly a quarter of a century. The 34-year-old scored 44 goals in 46 games in all competitions last season with the Royal Club, including 15 in the Champions League.

In the continental competition, Benzema presented extraordinary levels in front of the strongest teams of the tournament, recording a hat-trick against Paris Saint-Germain within 17 minutes in the second half in the second leg of the first leg of the final, and Chelsea in England in the first leg of the quarter-finals. He also scored three goals in the two semi-final matches against Manchester City, to lead the team to the final, in which it beat Liverpool.

Benzema won the European Player of the Year award presented by the European Union for the game "UEFA", last August and is going through the best period of his career nearly a month before the World Cup.

If he wins, Benzema will become the fifth Frenchman to achieve this feat after Raymond Kopa (1958), Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985), Jean-Pierre Papin (1991) and Zinedine Zidane (1998). Previously, the award was given based on the player's performance throughout the year, but the system has changed, and it is now based on what he offers during the season.

Messi's absence and Ronaldo's presence

Last year, Argentine Lionel Messi won the Ballon d'Or for the seventh time, enhancing his record, but he was not a candidate this year after a disappointing first season with Paris Saint-Germain.

The Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been crowned five times, is present, while the Brazilian Neymar, Messi's colleague at Saint Germain, is absent from the list of candidates.