Ballon d'Or 2022 ceremony - as it happened

22:10: As Benzema lifts the trophy, we will bring this to a close. Thanks very much joining us for this one and congratulations to all the winners. Good night!

22:05: Karim Benzema's mother is now on stage to congratulate her son! The rest of the family is also there and they are also speaking. Mane was second, De Bruyne was third and Lewandowski fourth. 

22:05: Benzema continues to speak after winning the Ballon d'Or!

22:01: Benzema talks about becoming a footballer and what it means to win the award. He's understandably delighted. Now, there's a video with his best moments.

21:55: Benzema wins the Ballon d'Or!!  The Real Madrid forward wins it and there's no doubt he deserves it!

21:52: Zidane is out on stage with the prize.

21:52: Time now to announce the Ballon d'Or award!

21:47: Man City win the club of the year! Man City win the prize ahead of Real Madrid and Liverpool! CEO Ferran Soriano is on stage to collect the award.Txiki Begiristain, Man City's director of football, also speaks. 

21:46: Luis Figo is on stage to hand out the award.

21:45: Time for the club of the year now! 

21:36: Time for another break here in Paris!!

21:32: Courtois wins the Yashin award! There was never any doubt the Real Madrid goalkeeper would win it!

21:31: Allison, Courtois, Ederson, Maignan and Mendy are the final five!

21:29: Haller is on the stage now to present the goalkeeper award!

21:28: Courtois finishes in 7th, Mbappe is 6th while Salah is fifth!! De Bruyne, Lewandowski, Benzema and Mane are the last four. 

21:26: Presenter Didier Drogba also talks to Lewandowski about Haaland!

21:23: Lewandowski talks about Muller and then a bit in Polish. A video is shown on the big screen.

21:20: Robert Lewandowski is the winner of the Gerd Muller trophy! He fully deserves it. Very well done. 

21:18: Time for the Gerd Muller trophy now! It's given to the best striker. 

21:16: We're back underway here!!

21:07: Short interval here in Paris! Putellas reveals that she misses being out on the pitch. A short break has now been taken.

21:05: A video of Putellas' family talking about the footballer is shown to the crowd!

21:04: Putellas gives her speech mainly in Spanish with also bits of Catalan and English.

21:00: Putellas wins the Women's Ballon d'Or!! The Barca player wins it for the second year in a row!

20:58: Shevchenko talks about the situation in Ukraine and is applauded by the audience.

20:56: Bonmati, Putellas, Kerr, Mead and Oberdorf are in the final five! Shevchenko is out to give the prize! Drogba is one of the presenters. 

20:56: Time to hand out the Women's Ballon d'Or!

20:53: Sadio Mane wins the Socrates prize! 

20:50: The Socrates trophy is now being given out! It is given to the person who has seen to have been committed to building a fairer and more inclusive society. 

20:48: Now down to seven candidates for the Ballon d'Or!

20:48: Haaland finishes in 10th while Modric is 9th and Vinicius is 8th.

20:42: Gavi wins the Kopa Trophy! Well done to him! The Barcelona player has spoken to thank everyone and a video of him is now on the screen.

20:40: We're going straight now for the Kopa trophy! Pedri is on stage to give his trophy back while Ronaldo is also on stages.

20:37: The presenters are welcoming everyone for their attendance here.

20:34: A video of previous winners and images from footballing moments is projected on the big screen while Bocelli sings.

20:32: Singer Andrea Bocelli gets us going!!

20:31: The ceremony begins here in Paris!

20:29: The red carpet is over and we are now about to get going with the ceremony, which should last just over 90 minutes.

20:18: F1 driver Esteban Ocon is also in attendance!

20:14: Minutes away from the beginning of the ceremony!!

20:03: Pedri is also on the red carpet now as are other Barca players!

20:01: PSG are arriving now and Nuno Mendes is one of the players there!

19:56: Zidane has spoken about Benzema possibly winning the Ballon d'Or. Do you think he'll win it?

19:55: Real Madrid are now here, as is Benzema, the big favourite tonight!

19:51: Zidane is also in the house now!

 

October 17, 2022

19:48: Didier Deschamps is the latest to enter the red carpet!

19:35: Sadio Mane of Bayern Munich and Beth Mead of Arsenal have now appeared!

19:32: Lyon make their way out now and Aulas, the Lyon president, is now on the red carpet.

19:30: Rain is falling here in Paris, but at least it's indoors!

19:29: The players are coming on to the red carpets in a particular order based on their club team. Man City are coming out now and we have just seen De Bruyne and Ederson.

19:26: Putellas is the favourite to win the women's Ballon d'Or despite missing the Euros through injury while Gavi and Courtois could also win the Kopa and Yashine trophies respectively.

19:21: There is also the women's Ballon d'Or to give out. Defending champion Putellas is once again in the running as are Bacha, Rolfo, Miedema, Kerr, Endler, Oberdorf, Diani, Macario, Popp, Bonmati, Renard, Alex Morgan, Oshoala, Katoto, Rodman and Hegerberg. Three Euro winning Lionesses in Bronze, Millie Bright and Mead have also been nominated.

19:20: It is the worth mentioning that the award is based on the past season rather than the calendar year for the first time. Makes more sense.

19:18: The Yashin trophy sees 10 nominees. Alisson (Liverpool), Bono (Sevilla), Courtois (Real Madrid), Ederson (Man City), Lloris (Tottenham), Maignan (AC Milan), Mendy (Chelsea), Neuer (Bayern), Oblak (Atletico) and Trapp (Frankfurt).

19:14: For the Kopa Trophy, there are 10 candidates: Adeyemi (Salzburg), Bellingham (Dortmund); Camavinga (Rennes and Real Madrid), Gavi (Barcelona), Gravenberch (Ajax), Gvardiol (Leipzig), Nuno Mendes (Sporting and PSG), Musiala (Bayern), Saka (Arsenal) and Wirtz (Leverkusen).

19:06: We're now down to ten contenders for the Ballon d'Or! Benzema is the huge favourite.

19:05: 13th placed Haller has made his way onto the red carpet. Great to see him here.

 

October 17, 2022

19:04: Other awards on offer this evening include the Kopa Trophy for the best under 21 player, the women's Ballon d'Or and the Yashine trophy for the best goalkeeper.

19:02: The 10 players left in the running are Benzema, Courtois, De Bruyne, Haaland, Lewandowski, Mane, Mbappe, Modric, Salah and Vinicius.

19:00: Virgil van Dijk was 16th, Rafael Leao and Fabinho were joint 14th, Haller 13th, Mahrez ended 12th and Son Heung-min finished in 11th. 

18:58: Kimmich, Maignan, Rudiger, Cancelo, Nkunku and Nunez all finished joint 25th, Bernardo Silva, Alexander-Arnold and Foden were joint 22nd while Kane was 21st. Cristiano Ronaldo ended in 20th place while Casemiro, Vlahovic and Liverpool's Luis Diaz shared 17th. 

18:57: There were 30 candidates to win the Ballon D'or and they are slowly being revealed in order from 30th to 1st.

18:50: The big names are making their way out onto the red carpet ahead of the ceremony which begins at 20:30 CEST!

18:49: Red carpet begins at the Ballon d'Or! 

18:48: Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris! Who will win the main prize?