﻿ Luka Modric 'honoured' after winning men's 2018 Ballon d'Or

Luka Modric 'honoured' after winning men's 2018 Ballon d'Or

Ross Houston
December 5, 2018

Real Madrid and Croatia's Luka Modric has won the 2018 Ballon d'Or, becoming the first player other than Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to win it in more than a decade.

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah - who became the Premier League's all-time goalscorer for a 38 game season - was also in serious contention after his goalscoring form helped the Reds reach the Champions League final, as was Spurs striker Harry Kane, who won the Golden Boot at the World Cup.

Modric managed to win by a huge margin of 267 votes, but not every nation picked the 33-year-old at all let alone as their victor.


The Croatia midfielder won three consecutive Champions League titles under Zidane before the 1998 Ballon d'Or victor left in the wake of their most recent triumph in Kiev in May.

It is the first time in 10 years neither Ronaldo nor Messi has been recognised as the world's best player for France Football's acclaimed award.

The first ever Women's Ballon d'Or was awarded at the ceremony too, going to Lyon and Norway striker Ada Hegerberg.

The award has been given out annually since 1956 through France Football Magazine to the player of the year as decided by a panel of football journalists.

"He won the Champions League". The Portuguese ended up as runner-up, while Messi was not even in the top three.

Kerr also helped Australia reach the AFC Women's Asian Cup final, which the Matildas lost to Japan in April, and has scored eight goals in 19 global appearances this calendar year.


Kylian Mbappe, who dazzled for France as Les Bleus triumphed in Russian Federation in the summer, won the newly-formed Kopa award for the best young player. Many will say that I say this only because I am his friend, but no.

Monday was a big day for many people in the football galaxy. "I didn't really consider it a sexual harassment or anything in the moment", she told the BBC.

"I admired him and I respected him a lot when he was a player".

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