After firing Real Madrid to a Champions League and LaLiga double with 42 goals in 44 games and returning to the France national team with a Nations League title, Karim Benzema beat Sadio Mané and Kevin De Bruyne to the 2022 Ballon d'Or on Monday. To celebrate the occasion, adidas — which has counted Benzema among its stable of athletes for over a decade now — dropped a new signature cleat for Real's captain.
PARIS - Real Madrid's France forward Karim Benzema won the 2022 Ballon d'Or award for the best men's player in the world on Monday, while Barcelona's Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas won the women's award for a second time.
Benzema, who played a pivotal role in Real's run to the Champions League title last season, is the first French player to win the trophy since Zinedine Zidane in 1998 and the fifth after Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini and Jean-Pierre Papin.
How does one define an underrated player? Is it their performance in relation to their transfer value or their expectations from the fans? How do statistical expectations and statistical overperformance come into play?
Whatever metric you want to use, it comes down to this: underrated players don't get the credit they deserve. In the modern Premier League, where getting good value from players is paramount, these players are of the utmost importance.
Here's our list of Premier League players who've consistently been the most overlooked.
The first round of the 2022 NWSL playoffs came to a close Sunday night after Kansas City Current upset Houston Dash earlier in the day before San Diego Wave held off Chicago Red Stars in the late match to advance to the semifinals.
At PNC Stadium in Houston, TX, Lo'eau LaBonta gave Kansas City the lead from the spot in the fifth-minute before another trademark Current celebration.
Austin FC has advanced to the Western Conference semifinals of the MLS Cup Playoffs after overcoming the realest of Real Salt Lake challenges: Pablo Mastroeni's team — a massive underdog away from home at Q2 Stadium — played down a man for 68 minutes, faced 38 shots and still managed to get it to a penalty shootout.
Hirving Lozano no tuvo un buen inicio de temporada con el Napoli, sin goles y apenas una asistencia. Tan malo era el asunto que muchos aficionados lo tenían de punching ball y él mismo andaba con los cables cruzados. Sin embargo, con la llegada de octubre, el Chucky se puso en modo Halloween y acaba de anotar por tercer partido consecutivo.
Wrexham AFC — House Targaryen of the National League and harnessing the ability, with the blessing of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, to transform an FA Cup fourth qualifying round match to a global spectacle on ESPN — have been forced into a replay in the world's oldest football competition by the part-time players of Blyth Spartans.
When UNOZERO launched in 2019, founder and director Sam Garzon was largely testing the waters around his own need for a soccer-centric brand that celebrated classic beauty and quality without sacrificing modern design techniques.
Pepsi is not an official sponsor of the 2022 FIFA World Cup — that position belongs to eternal rival Coca-Cola. But a smart way to save money while cashing in on the global phenomenon is by associating with the event in more creative ways — like by getting Lionel Messi, Paul Pogba, Ronaldinho, Fabrizio Romano, RECEBA!!! and Kaljit Atwal to sell your products in a place that vaguely looks like Qatar but isn't.
The football that was at the feet — and hand — of Diego Maradona as he shocked the world with acts of both brazen gamesmanship and breathtaking skill in Mexico 36 years ago has been put up for auction and is expected to sell for at least $2.8 million.
The ball in question is from the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal between Argentina and England, in which Maradona scored six minutes into the second half by sneakily punching the ball over England goalkeeper Peter Shilton into the net, a goal he said afterwards had been helped by the "Hand of God."