“The promises to my mother have been kept”said Karim Benzema at a press conference after winning the Ballon d’Or France Soccer 2022. The French striker dedicates his trophy to his fans, “because I like sharing and because they too deserve, c‘is also their Golden Ball.” After having achieved an exceptional year, he claims to have still “a lot of ambition” and especially “Win this World Cup”.
franceinfo: When you received your trophy, you mentioned a “People’s Golden Ball”. What did you mean?
Karim Benzema : It’s just relative to where I’m from, relative to all my fans. When I say People’s Golden Ball, it’s because they took part. When I say they participated in it, it is to push me every time when there are obstacles, it is to support me in all moments. So I want to share this trophy with them, because I like sharing and because they deserve it too. For a long time, since Lyon, since a little before, they have always been there to push me, to motivate me. Today, I’m happy and I hope they are too.
When you were young, you had three dreams: to give your mother a house, to play for Real Madrid and to win the Ballon d’Or. Have you accomplished everything or do you still have a dream with the Blues?
Already, it’s done. The promises to my mother have been kept. Today I am very proud. And after that, I still have ambition. I would like to win the World Cup with the France team. I would like to do things like that, because these are things that remain. Either way, it’s a goal. I have a lot of self-confidence, I have a lot of ambition. And go to the World Cup and do everything to win this World Cup.
You have received congratulations from the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron. Does this Ballon d’Or allow you to enter even more into the hearts of the French?
Already thank you to the president. It was a pleasure. Then, me, when I play football, I do not enter a field to tell myself, I must please so and so. I try to do my best on a football pitch. It’s trying to give people those emotions. If I succeed, it makes me proud and it motivates me. It gives me even more strength. If I can’t, I look at what to do to do it.
But it’s still sport, it’s still football. It’s a show. Because me, when I’m on the field, it’s like when I was little, there are just rules, but it’s the same thing. In any case, what I know is that today people are proud of me. That’s why I repeat that it’s also their golden ball.