Luka Modric broke a decade of award dominance by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi after being crowned world footballer of the year by FIFA on Monday.
Modric was voted FIFA's best player in the 2017-18 season after winning the Champions League for a fourth time in five seasons with Real Madrid and leading Croatia to its first World Cup final where it lost to France.
The voting for the award was done by coaches, team captains and media men from FIFA nations. The award which took place on Monday at Royal Festival Hall in London, saw Modric beat Juventus’ gems Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool’s talisman, Mohamed Salah to pick the coveted prize.
Messi didn't make the three-man shortlist and skipped the trip to London. And as a new dawn in FIFA's awards history broke inside London's Royal Festival Hall, Ronaldo also didn't turn up at the ceremony to be dethroned in person by his former Real Madrid teammate despite being in the final three alongside Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah.
Marta won her first FIFA player of the year award since 2010 after leading Brazil to Copa America Femenina glory. She also scored 13 goals as Orlando Pride reached the NWSL playoffs.
All the FIFA Best
Men’s Player: Luka Modric
Women’s Player: Marta
Men’s Coach: Didier Deschamps
Women’s Coach: Reynald Pedros
Goalkeeper: Thibaut Courtois
Puskás Award: Mo Salah
Fan Award: Peru supporters
Fair Play Award: Lennart Thy
World11 433: David De Gea; Dani Alves, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane; Eden Hazard, N’Golo Kante, Luka Modric; Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi.
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