The Ballon d'Or is one of the must-watch events on the annual football calendar when the best players in the world are crowned. The awards are considered the most prestigious individual honors in the sport.
Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema is expected to have his name added to the elite list of generational talents that have graced the men's honour roll, now in its 66th edition. Spain and Barcelona forward Alexia Putellas could potentially win the women's award for the second straight time.
There are seven total Ballon d'Or awards and they are run by French publication France Football, which oversees the process for identifying candidates and sets the ground rules for the voting process.
The Sporting News gets you ready with everything you need to know for the 2022 event on Monday, October 17 in Paris.
MORE: Final rankings and vote totals of the 2021 Ballon d'Or awards
What time is Ballon d'Or 2022 ceremony?
The ranking unveil for the men's award kicks off at 4:30 p.m. Paris time (10:30 a.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. BST). The names of players ranked No. 11 through No. 30 will be revealed on social media via the France Football account.
That's four hours before the ceremony itself which will take place at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. The awards presentation kicks off at 8:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. BST).
And as with any glitzy awards event, there's a red carpet arrival with cameras capturing the stars 30 minutes before the start of the formal programme.
| Ranking unveil (social media) | Red carpet arrivals | Awards ceremony | |
| Australia | 01:30 AEDT Tue, Oct. 18 | 05:00 AEDT Tue, Oct. 18 | 05:30 AEDT Tue, Oct. 18 |
| Canada | 10:30 ET Mon, Oct. 17 | 14:00 ET Mon, Oct. 17 | 14:30 ET Mon, Oct. 17 |
| Hong Kong | 22:30 HKT Mon, Oct. 17 | 02:00 HKT Tue, Oct. 18 | 02:30 HKT Tue, Oct. 18 |
| India | 20:00 IST Mon, Oct. 17 | 23:30 IST Mon, Oct. 17 | 00:00 IST Tue, Oct. 18 |
| Malaysia | 22:30 MT Mon, Oct. 17 | 02:00 MT Tue, Oct. 18 | 02:30 MT Tue, Oct. 18 |
| New Zealand | 03:30 NZST Tue, Oct. 18 | 07:00 NZST Tue, Oct. 18 | 07:30 NZST Tue, Oct. 18 |
| Singapore | 22:30 SST Mon, Oct. 17 | 02:00 SST Tue, Oct. 18 | 02:30 SST Tue, Oct. 18 |
| UK | 15:30 BST Mon, Oct. 17 | 19:00 BST Mon, Oct. 17 | 19:30 BST Mon, Oct. 17 |
| USA | 10:30 ET Mon, Oct. 17 | 14:00 ET Mon, Oct. 17 | 14:30 ET Mon, Oct. 17 |
How to watch Ballon d'Or 2022
The Ballon d'Or is definitely a streaming event.
Only a handful of countries around the globe will have local broadcasters picking up the world feed. For the rest, it will be available to watch online.
France Football will be offering a free live stream of the event on the channels of sister publication L'Equipe via its website and YouTube channel.
| TV channel | Streaming | |
| Australia | SBS | SBS On Demand |
| Canada | — | DAZN.com, DAZN YouTube |
| Hong Kong | — | L'Equipe site, YouTube |
| India | Sony TEN 2 | SonyLIV site/app |
| Malaysia | — | L'Equipe site, YouTube |
| New Zealand | — | L'Equipe site, YouTube |
| Singapore | — | L'Equipe site, YouTube |
| UK | — | L'Equipe site, YouTube |
| USA | — | Paramount+ |
MORE: List of Real Madrid players to win the Ballon d'Or
Who will win Ballon d'Or awards? All the finalists
The Ballon d'Or awards consist of seven awards. The finalists for the four main awards are listed below. There are also awards for the best striker (most goals for club and country), best club (last. year based on most Ballon d'Or nominations), and the Socrates award for a show of solidarity from a player.
While Real Madrid's Karim Benzema is the favourite to take the men's award, the women's trophy is seemingly up for grabs with Alexia Putellas (Spain / Barcelona), Catarina Macario (USA / Lyon), and Beth Mead (England / Arsenal) among the most notable candidates.
Since the awards are based on the 2021/22 season performance, Barcelona and Spain star midfielder Gavi seems like a good bet to take the Kopa Trophy. The best men's goalkeeper award (Yashin trophy) should go to another Real Madrid player after Thibaut Courtois helped his team win both the Champions League and La Liga with standout showings.
There are 30 finalists for the men's Ballon d'Or, 20 for the women's version, and 10 each for young player and goalkeeper of the year.
| Ballon d'Or (Men) | Ballon d'Or (Women) | Kopa Trophy (Under-21 Player) | Yashin Trophy (Best GK) |
| Trent Alexander-Arnold | Selma Bacha | Karim Adeyemi | Alisson Becker |
| Karim Benzema | Aitana Bonmati | Jude Bellingham | Yassine Bounou |
| Joao Cancelo | Millie Bright | Eduardo Camavinga | Thibaut Courtois |
| Casemiro | Lucy Bronze | Gavi | Ederson |
| Thibaut Courtois | Kadidiatou Diani | Ryan Gravernberch | Hugo Lloris |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Christiane Endler | Josko Gvardiol | Mike Maignan |
| Kevin De Bruyne | Ada Hegerberg | Nuno Mendes | Edouard Mendy |
| Luis Diaz | Marie-Antoinette Katoto | Jamal Musiala | Manuel Neuer |
| Fabinho | Sam Kerr | Bukayo Saka | Jan Oblak |
| Phil Foden | Catarina Macario | Florian Wirtz | Kevin Trapp |
| Erling Haaland | Beth Mead | ||
| Sebastien Haller | Vivianne Miedema | ||
| Harry Kane | Alex Morgan | ||
| Joshua Kimmich | Lena Oberdorf | ||
| Rafael Leao | Asisat Oshoala | ||
| Robert Lewandowski | Alexandra Popp | ||
| Riyad Mahrez | Alexia Putellas | ||
| Mike Maignan | Wendie Renard | ||
| Sadio Mane | Trinity Rodman | ||
| Kylian Mbappe | Fridolina Rolfo | ||
| Luka Modric | |||
| Christopher Nkunku | |||
| Darwin Nunez | |||
| Antonio Rudiger | |||
| Mohamed Salah | |||
| Bernardo Silva | |||
| Son Heung-min | |||
| Virgil van Dijk | |||
| Vinicius Junior | |||
| Dusan Vlahovic |
