2022 Ballon d'Or ceremony takes place tonight and all eyes are on Karim Benzema

The 2022 Ballon d'Or ceremony is set to take place tonight with Benzema, Sadio Mane, Robert Lewandowski and Kylian Mbappe among the list of nominees for the big award.

Lionel Messi is a notable absentee from the final shortlist, failing to make the grade for the first time since 2005, leaving Real Madrid star Benzema as the clear favourite.

Cristiano Ronaldo is also expected to attend the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris for the first time in five years.

Real Madrid star Karim Benzema is a heavy favourite to win men's Ballon d'or 2022 ahead of ylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah.

Several Premier League stars have made the 30-man shortlist, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden and Harry Kane three English players to be nominated.

Robert Lewandowski, who has won the last two FIFA The Best Men's Player awards, would surely have won the Ballon d'Or in 2020 had that year's edition not been cancelled because of the pandemic.

Ballon d'Or shortlist in full (Club played for last season in brackets)

Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

Joao Cancelo (Manchester City)

Casemiro (Real Madrid)

Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)

Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)

Luis Diaz (Porto, Liverpool)

Fabinho (Liverpool)

Phil Foden (Manchester City)

Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)

Sebastien Haller (Ajax)

Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)

Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)

Rafael Leao (Milan)

Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)

Mike Maignan (Milan)

Sadio Mane (Liverpool)

Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)

Luka Modric (Real Madrid)

Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig)

Darwin Nunez (Benfica)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus, Manchester United)

Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea)

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)

Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur)

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)

Dusan Vlahovic (Fiorentina, Juventus)