The Ballon d’Or has as of late shifted to a (much more suitable) format, now reviewing a season rather than a calendar year. However, there is still something rather charming about looking at football over a calendar year, hence the 2022 year-end Cyler Awards.
This week we put a full stop on this year’s awards with a final ceremony with a countdown starting from thirty. We have seen the top five leagues individually, but we have not seen them together. It’s time to award the 2022 Cyler d’Or. Not any regional variant, this is not just for Ligue 1, or Serie A, or any other league. Worldwide.
Of the thirty man shortlist, twenty-five will be the twenty-five players who received honours during the course of the 2022 Cyler Awards, giving us a clean split of five players from each of Europe’s top leagues. The remaining five will be handpicked from the players who missed out on the awards.
Let’s see how they stack up.
10-6
10. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur, England)
Kane turned his 21/22 season around over Christmas with a fantastic return to form. And with a renewed passion for Spurs, Kane has ran through Premier League defenses with hold-up play and drops into midfield before turning around and running through the middle.
9. Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund/Manchester City, Norway)
Haaland spent a large chunk of the early months of 2022 on the shelf, but when he was fit he was fantastic. However what truly gets him into this list is his otherworldly form for Manchester City, where he has made the greatest strikers to ever touch England look like chumps, shattering records by orders of magnitude every week.
8. Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich, Germany)
The best holding midfielder in the world and the most complete player in the world, no questions asked. Defensive positioning, short passing, vision into the final third, shots from range, holding onto the ball under pressure, he has it all. Machine.
7. Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid, Brazil)
Vini has been Karim Benzema’s partner-in-crime throughout the 21/22 season, terrorising right backs all year and eventually landing himself a top 5 position at the 2022 Ballon d’Or after a cup and Champions League double.
6. Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig, France)
He may have missed the World Cup due to injury, but Germany’s regional Cyler d’Or winner has been inevitable. Leipzig became an unbeatable machine towards the end of the 21/22 season, and the few times they showed weakness it was quickly squashed by Nkunku bailing them out. Baller.
Tune in tomorrow for the final five!
What do you think of my picks? Is there any order you would’ve changed? Let us know in the discussion below.
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