Ballon D’Or 2022, live streaming: Karim Benzema favourite; no Lionel Messi among nominees

The Ballon D’Or 2022 awards to honour the best footballers for the 2021-22 season will be held in Paris and live telecast of the ceremony will be available in the early hours of Tuesday in India.

For the first time in history, the Ballon D’Or - awarded by France Football - will recognise the best football player in the men’s and women’s categories over the course of a season. It was previously given to the best player in a calendar year.

Watch Ballon D’Or 2022 on live streaming in India. It is scheduled to start at 12:00 AM IST on Tuesday, October 18.

Karim Benzema is the favourite to win the men’s Ballon D’Or 2022. The French striker enjoyed a stellar season with Real Madrid, helping them win the La Liga and UEFA Champions League titles in 2021-22.

Benzema scored 27 goals in the La Liga and 15 goals in the UCL, including hat-tricks against Chelsea and PSG in the knockouts, and finished as the top-scorer in both competitions.

Argentinian legend Lionel Messi - who has won a record seven Ballon D’Or trophies, including the last one given out in 2021 - doesn’t feature in the list of nominees for the first time since 2005.

Five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo, however, does find himself among the 30 nominees, which also includes PSG star Kylian Mbappe, Liverpool ace Mohammed Salah and former Bayern Munich and current Barcelona stalwart Robert Lewandowski.

Messi and Ronaldo have shared 13 of the 14 Ballon D’Or awards from 2008 to 2021. The exception came in the 2018 edition when Croatia’s Luka Modric broke the duopoly.

The award ceremony will also hand out the Ballon D’Or Feminin - for the best women’s player in 2021-22. Spain’s Alexia Putellas is the current holder and among the favourites to win it again this year.

The winners of the Yashin Trophy - for the best men’s goalkeeper - and the Kopa Trophy - for the best U21 player - will also be announced at the ceremony.

Where to watch Ballon D’Or 2022 live in India

The Ballon D’Or 2022 award ceremony will be telecast live on the Sony TEN 2 and Sony TEN 2 HD TV channels in India.

Live streaming will be available on the SonyLIV app and website.

Ballon D’Or 2022 nominees

1. Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)

2. Rafael Leao (AC Milan)

3. Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)

4. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

5. Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)

6. Casemiro (Real Madrid)

7. Heung-Min Son (Tottenham)

8. Fabinho (Liverpool)

9. Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)

10. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

11. Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)

12. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

13. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)

14. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)

15. Luis Diaz (Liverpool)

16. Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)

17. Mike Maignan (AC Milan)

18. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)

19. Darwin Nunez (Liverpool)

20. Phil Foden (Manchester City)

21. Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich)

22. Sebastien Haller (Borussia Dortmund)

23. Luka Modric (Real Madrid)

24. Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid)

25. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

26. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)

27. Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

28. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

29. Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus)

30. Joao Cancelo (Manchester City)