Who Will Win The Ballon d'Or 2022? Here's The Latest Odds

Matthew Glazier

May 12th, 2022 , 23:50

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The 2022 Ballon d’Or odds are constantly changing across multiple betting sites according to what is happening in world football.

This includes the UEFA Champions League, which is regarded as the primary club competition on the planet, with players from 2022 finalists Liverpool and Real Madrid occupying the top three positions in the betting.

Indeed, it is veteran Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema who has shot to the top of the betting market as there has been so much to like about his recent performances.

Like a vintage wine from his own country, the Frenchman appears to have reached a new level during the twilight of his career and it will be interesting to see whether he’s able to get a glut of votes.

According to the Ballon d'Or odds, Benzema is the likeliest player to secure this accolade, while Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane are the other forwards who are trading at relatively short prices.

2022 Ballon d'Or Betting Odds

Benzema Shining Brightly for Real Madrid in UCL

Karim Benzema has been part of the Real Madrid squad since 2009, with the 34-year-old having won an array of silverware with the famous Spanish club.

Including this season, he has won four La Liga titles with Los Merengues along with an incredible four Champions League winners’ medals. However, the forward has never been regarded as the star of the team, until now.

Despite boasting over 200 goals in north of 400 appearances for Real, Benzema has often been overshadowed by some of the marquee signings that have arrived at the Bernabeu.

Stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale are among those Madrid players that have been regarded as world class, although the team’s front man has always delivered.

However, the 2021/22 football season has seen Benzema reach dizzy new heights. This is a forward who is well clear of any player in the La Liga scoring charts. His performances in Europe have been absolutely electric and a recent hat-trick at Stamford Bridge was a thing of beauty.

Benzema achieved the same thing against Paris Saint-Germain in the previous round when scoring a second-half hat-trick in the space of 27 minutes to turn the Champions League last 16 tie completely on its head. It means that the French international has over 40 goals landed in all competitions and he is now back in the fold for Les Bleus.

Indeed, Benzema is likely to be one of the first names on Didier Deschamps’ team sheet for France based on how prolific he has become. This isn’t a player with blistering pace, although his predatory ability to score goals with boot and head against some of the best defences across Europe means that the bookies are running for cover.

Can Mo Salah Become The Second African Winner Of The Ballon d’Or?

George Weah remains the only African football player to have won the Ballon d’Or, with the Liberian claiming the award in 1995. But perhaps Mohamed Salah will be the second footballer from this continent to make history.

Salah was only seventh in the 2021 standings, although he has now finished in the top 10 of the past three awards and his performances for Liverpool have earned rave reviews this term.

The forward has been prolific since switching from AS Roma to the Merseyside club and he is also the talisman when playing for his country.

Indeed, Salah helped a modest Egypt side reach the final of the 2022 African Cup of Nations before an agonising penalty shootout defeat against Senegal.

The 29-year-old is currently focused on helping Liverpool achieve an odds-defying quadrable, although his performances in the second half of the 2021/22 season have dipped and that explains why he's only second favourite.

Sadio Mane Gaining Momentum

As mentioned, Senegal won this year’s African Cup of Nations at the expense of Salah’s Egypt, and ever since then their star player Sadio Mane has rediscovered his best form in a Liverpool shirt.

The January arrival of Luis Diaz at Anfield has also seen Mane deployed in a central role more often and that switch has boosted his goal return significantly.

After enduring a difficult campaign last term, he has broken the 20-goal barrier for Liverpool this season and at the moment he’s arguably their most in-form forward, with Salah taking a back seat over the past few weeks.

Bookmakers have taken notice, with Betfair cutting Mane’s Ballon d’Or odds in from 17.0 to 11.0 over the course of April and May, making him third favourite.

Mbappe 2022 Ballon d’Or Hopes Fading

If there was a betting market for whether Kylian Mbappe would win a Ballon d’Or or not during his career, then the bookies would probably make him an odds-on chance.

After all, we’re talking about a 23-year-old who potentially has 15 years left when it comes to playing elite football and the Paris Saint-Germain forward has already earned over 50 caps for France.

Ever since he shone brightly when helping his country win the 2018 World Cup, Kylian Mbappe’s next transfer move has been speculated upon, while his goal return in a PSG shirt is consistently high regardless of the quality of Ligue 1.

It’s not certain that he will remain with the French champions for the remainder of 2022 though, with his contract due to run out this summer and no official updates on his plans.

That uncertainty has seen bookmakers relax the odds on the former Monaco forward finishing top of the pile in the 2022 Ballon d’Or voting, with Mbappe slipping to fourth favourite in recent weeks.

De Bruyne The Driving Force of Man City

Kevin de Bruyne remains the ticking heartbeat of a Manchester City team who are on course to secure back-to-back Premier League titles.

The 30-year-old scores plenty of goals and creates numerous assists, while he’s a menace from set pieces and has added more driving runs to his overall portfolio.

De Bruyne doesn’t have a weakness to his game and is the standout player for a Citizens outfit who, until recently, had been fighting for a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup treble.

However, City's semi-final exists in the FA Cup and, more notably, the Champions League, has seen De Bruyne's Ballon d'Or odds slide, with anything between 13.0 and 34.0 available.

Can Lewandowski Land A Ballon d’Or Award Before Retirement?

Robert Lewandowski's 580 points in the 2021 voting saw the Bayern Munich forward fall agonisingly short of Lionel Messi’s 613, with the former having been favourite on football betting sites for several weeks.

Indeed, Lewandowski can consider himself unfortunate that there was no 2020 Ballon d’Or award considering that he helped Bayern Munich land the Champions League that year and Messi himself gave a personal dedication to his adversary following his most recent success.

Quite simply, the captain of Poland has been a goal machine in elite competitions for several years.

The striker has averaged roughly a goal per game since signing for Bayern in 2014 and his goals have helped them enjoy a virtual monopoly in the German Bundesliga, with Lewandowski regularly topping the scoring charts each season.

He has won many individual accolades and perhaps he will be honoured come the end of the year, although Bayern Munich's shock exit from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage has seen him drift out from 3.50 to as big as 34.0 in some places.

Messi and Ronaldo Likely To Have Won Their Last Ballon d’Or

Until recently, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been regarded as the leading two players in the world. However, the pair moving from Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively have seen their careers take a different direction.

The Ballon d’Or betting sites don’t consider them as major contenders to scoop a prize that they have won collectively on 12 different occasions.

Messi is now plying his trade with Paris Saint-Germain but not posting the sort of numbers that became a staple at the Nou Camp, with Ronaldo being an occasionally brilliant performer for a Manchester United team who are set to miss out on Champions League qualification.

It now feels as though they’ve been overtaken when it comes to individual performance levels, and that much is reflected in the latest Ballon d'Or betting odds.