Senegalese forward, Sadio Mane came in second place in the 2022 Ballon d’Or, behind only Karim Benzema, while Egyptian forward and former teammate, Mohammed Salah ended in fifth place.
French news magazine, France Football has been honouring the world’s top football players with the Ballon d’Or annually since 1956. The 2021/22 season was Mane’s last at Anfield, and it was a good one. Liverpool finished as Premier League runners-up and as Champions League finalists. Mane scored in both legs of Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final clash with Villarreal to help them to the final, setting up a rematch of their 2018 final with Real Madrid. Even though it was a challenging season for Liverpool and Mane as they chased four different trophies, the 30-year-old closed the year on fire, proving his worth as a centre-forward and a winger.
The Senegalese striker joined Bayern Munich in the summer after concluding the 2021/22 season with 23 goals and five assists across all competitions. He also won the Africa Cup of Nations earlier in the year. In the AFCON semi-final against Burkina Faso, he scored and assisted as Senegal’s captain led his team to victory.
Mane not only came in second but also got the Socrates award for his exceptional humanitarian work off the field. In his own land, he is now synonymous with selfless acts of kindness.
Mane has used his money to improve his hometown of Bambali by erecting a public hospital, establishing a scholarship programme, and providing financial support to local residents. To help fight the Covid-19 pandemic, he has also given to the Senegalese National Committee. Mane was not one to brag, even after receiving a Ballon d’Or trophy for his selfless attitude
Speaking to the crowd, he remarked, “Like you said, sometimes I’m a bit shy when it comes to talking about it, but I’m really happy to do what I can for our people and to make things better.”
Meanwhile, Egyptian forward, Mohamed Salah finished fifth in the voting for the Ballon d’Or, behind the 2022 winner Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane, Kevin de Bruyne, and Robert Lewandowski.
He finished higher than the likes of Kylian Mbappe (6th), Erling Haaland (10th), and Cristiano Ronaldo (20th), who had his lowest finish ever.
The Liverpool forward moved up from 2021, when he finished in seventh place. The Reds’ success in the FA Cup and League Cup was in large part due to his efforts. Liverpool finished second in the Premier League to Manchester City and to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League. Salah’s 23 goals in the Premier League were enough to earn him the Golden Boot.
On the international stage, however, Salah and the Egyptian national team struggled, losing to Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations final and failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
Salah skipped the event, which took place at Paris’s Theatre du Chatelet, for unknown reasons. Salah has been nominated for this award four times. In 2018, he finished sixth, and in 2019, he got the fifth spot. In 2020, the award was rescinded because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Salah came in seventh in the 2021 standings.
To date, Salah remains Egypt’s only representative to have ever been nominated in the award’s shortlist.