Luka Modric has officially ended Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s dominance of individual awards after scooping the Ballon d’Or award for 2018.
He was integral to Real Madrid winning their third Champions League in a row under Zinedine Zidane.
He then followed that up by captaining Croatia to the World Cup final for the first time in their history – deservedly winning the Golden Ball for the tournament thanks to his incredible displays in the middle of the park.
In September, Modric was handed the FIFA Men’s Best Player award from FIFA president Gianni Infantino and the former Spurs midfielder has completed a stellar year by adding the most prestigious individual prize in football to his collection at a ceremony in Paris.
Since 2008 Ronaldo and Messi took turns in taking the trophy home, but Modric, the overwhelming favourite for the award, has ended 10 years of them running riot – pipping the pair and the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Raphael Varane and Eden Hazard.
French wonder kid, Kylian Mbappe was also awarded the inaugural Kopa Trophy for young player of the year.
The 19-year-old enjoyed a stellar 2018, winning the World Cup with France in the summer in Russia where he was also named best young player of the tournament.
The new award is named after French former Ballon d’Or winner Raymond Kopa.
In the women category, Lyon and Norway striker Ada Hegerberg won the inaugural Women’s Ballon d’Or award.
The 23-year-old scored in this year’s Champions League final as French side Lyon beat Wolfsburg 4-1 in Kiev.
Wolfsburg and Denmark striker Pernille Harder was second, Germany midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsan third, and England and Lyon defender Lucy Bronze sixth.