The newspaper "L'Equipe" revealed the list of the most prominent candidates for the Ballon d'Or award for 2022, which is presented annually by "France Football" magazine for the best player in the world, with the current season approaching its end.

The French newspaper reported that Real Madrid striker, French international Karim Benzema, is leading the Golden Ball award this year, thanks to his impressive performance in recent months.

Benzema is the top scorer in the Spanish league with 24 goals, and is the most assistive producer in the "La Liga" with 11 assists.

And the newspaper pointed out in its report that Benzema's brilliance in the "La Liga", and his explosion in the Champions League this season, makes him the main candidate to win the first Golden Ball in his career.

What makes Benzema have a great chance of winning the "balloon role" is that the award criteria will change starting from this year's edition, as the players will be evaluated based on the football season and not the Gregorian year, which means that the 2022 World Cup that will be held at the end of this year in Qatar will not Enter the evaluation this year.

The report added that although Benzema has topped the race until this moment, there are competitors who are chasing him vigorously, led by Bayern Munich's top scorer, Polish international Robert Lewandowski, who tops the list of top scorers in the German League and the Champions League.

L'Equipe also reviewed other names that could compete with Benzema and Lewandowski for the award, such as Sadio Mane, who presents a distinguished season with Liverpool, and managed to lead his country, Senegal, to crown the African Nations title and qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, and Belgian playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, who stamps on one of the best His seasons since joining Manchester City, in addition to the Paris Saint-Germain striker and the France national team, Kylian Mbappe, who is the only top scorer in the French League.

The strange thing about these nominations is that the newspaper "L'Equipe" did not mention the name of the Egyptian star Mohamed Salah among the candidates, although he is the top scorer in the English Premier League, and he performs well in the Champions League.

France Football had previously announced a set of amendments to a number of criteria for the Ballon d'Or, starting from this year's edition, and the amendments were as follows:

- The period on which the players will be selected will be a season, and will not exceed a year, as was the case previously.

Only journalists representing the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings will have the right to vote.

- The first criterion for selecting the winner of the prestigious award will be the individual level of the player and then the tournaments that he crowns with his team and his country.

It is worth noting that Argentine star Lionel Messi, whose level has declined significantly this season after joining Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona, ​​won the Ballon d'Or last year for the seventh time in his career in a record number.