The meteoric rise of Croatian star Luka Modric kept on attaining greater heights after the 33-year old was named the best male player at the FIFA Awards on Monday in London.
The Real Madrid midfielder pipped former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool’s talisman Mohamed Salah to win the coveted award in world football.
This was the third successive award for Modric after he received the Golden Ball at the FIFA World Cup earlier this year an was picked as the UEFA Champions League Player of the Year, earlier in August.
Modric winning the award thus ended a decade long domination of stars Ronaldo and Lionel Messi over the FIFA Player of the Year awards. Interestingly, neither of the two modern-day greats were present at the awards ceremony.
The Real Madrid mideo also made it to the FIFA FIFPro World XI for the fourth time in a row.
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Modric, earlier had guided Croatia to their maiden World Cup final where they lost 4-2 to eventual champions France. In May, he had won his third successive Champions League title with Real Madrid.
Salah nonetheless didn’t return empty-handed as his goal as he won the Puskas award for the best goal after his strike against Everton in the Premier League last term was picked ahead of the other nominees.
Brazilian forward Marta was chosen as the best female player.
France head coach Didier Deschamps, who achieved a rare distinction of winning the World Cup both as a player and a gaffer was named the best men’s coach. His France side defeated Croatia 4-2 in the World Cup final in July earlier this year.
The FIFA Fan Award as awarded to the supporters of the Peru national team after they flew all the way to Russia to see their national team participate in the World Cup finals for the first time since 1982.