Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric was crowned as The FIFA Best Men’s Player for 2018 at a ceremony held in London on Monday night. This makes it the first time since 2007 that someone else besides Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo won this prestigious award.
Congratulations, Luka Modric 👑
Winner of #TheBest FIFA Men's Player 2018 🏆#FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/D489MswXug— #TheBest (@FIFAcom) September 24, 2018
Modric was one of the favorites for the award, given the exceptional year he had with both Real Madrid and Croatia’s national team. The 33-year-old helped Real to its third consecutive Champions League trophy while leading Croatia to FIFA World Cup finals and winning the award for the tournament’s best player.
“This award is not just mine. It is my teammates’ from Real Madrid and Croatia. Without my coaches, I would not have won this, and without my family, I would not be the player I am today,” – said Modric after receiving the award.
Luka Modric won 29 percent of all votes in The FIFA Best Men’s Player voting, with his former teammate Ronaldo being the runner-up with 19 percent of the votes. Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah took 11.2 percent, Kylian Mbappe received 10 percent while Messi only got 9 percent of the votes.
Besides The Best Men’s Player award, FIFA also announced winners in other categories with France’s manager Didier Deschamps taking home The Best FIFA Men’s Coach honor after leading France to World Cup title. The Best FIFA Goalkeeper award went to Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois while Brazilian forward Marta took home Vieira da Silva won The Best FIFA Women’s Player award.
