On October 17th, one of the most desired prizes among football players on the planet will be presented. The 66th edition of the Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) award, awarded by France Football magazine, will take place with the prediction of a new name to win this season.
Betfair asked Ronaldo Nazário, brand ambassador and two-time award winner, to assess which athlete should take this season’s award. Check out the Phenomenon opinion and Betfair’s predictions.
According to the analysis of Betfair experts, the player most likely to win the Ballon d’Or 2022 is Frenchman Karim Benzema with a 67% (1.03) probability. In second place is the Norwegian Erling Haaland, with 5% (13.0), and in third is the French Kylian Mbappe with 4% (17.0).
Ronaldo, the Betfair ambassador, also sees the Frenchman as a favorite and deserving of this year’s France Football award. “I’m following Betfair’s bet, I believe Benzema takes the prize this year. For me, this year is his, both as the best player in Europe and the best in the world”, said the Phenomenon in an interview with Betfair.
It is not today that Ronaldo highlights the talent of the Frenchman who plays for Real Madrid. The Betfair ambassador stated that Benzema is on the way to winning individual titles: “Benzema deserves the Ballon d’Or. I’ve been saying this for years and I’ve been criticized for it, but he deserves it, he’s a great striker”, declared Ronaldo in the first half of 2022.
Idol of the Brazilian national team, Ronaldo Nazário twice won the Golden Ball award. The first time was in 1997, when I was at Internazionale in Milan. The striker won for the second time after participating in the conquest of the fifth championship, in 2002. In addition, Ronaldo was elected by FIFA as the best player in the world three times, in 1996, 1997 and 2002.
Ronaldo celebrates 26 years of goal that could be Puskas
October 12, 1996 was special for Ronaldo – not only for the 5-1 thrashing of Compostela in the Spanish Championship, but mainly for the anthological goal scored 26 years ago, in his first year as a Barcelona player.
The then young player, just 20 years old, stole the ball in midfield, went on the attack, had 14 touches on the ball, and, in 12 seconds, dribbled more than five opponents before kicking and scoring a beautiful goal.
FIFA only created the Puskás Award in 2009, which honors legendary Hungarian star Ferenc Puskás and rewards the most beautiful goal of each year since then. But many fans argue that, if the award had already existed in 1996, it would recognize this goal by the Phenomenon that year.
“I agree with the fans (laughs). It was one of the most beautiful goals I ever scored and it would have been worthy of a Puskas Award, but the 1990s were one of the best for football, there were many stars and, certainly, there were other deserving goals that year”, added Ronaldo.
About Betfair
Betfair is one of the largest online sports betting providers in the world, and official sponsor of Libertadores and Sudamericana. The company, founded in London in 2000, pioneered the provision of peer-to-peer betting in the industry and manages a full suite of sports betting, entertainment events and online gaming products for over 4 million customers worldwide. , available to people over 18 years old.
Thanks to its cutting-edge technology, the platform offers a wide catalog of products that allows you to bet with your own odds and odds offered by other users. Betfair is licensed to operate online betting and other games in 19 countries including Spain, Italy, Malta, Colombia and Great Britain.