Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric broke a decade long dominance by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi by winning FIFA’s best player award for the 2017-18 season.
The ESPN FC crew assess Luka Modric’s credentials after he claimed The Best FIFA Men’s Player award over Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah.
Croatia captain and Real Madrid star Luka Modric has been named the Best FIFA Men’s Player in 2018 after winning the Golden Ball award at the World Cup.
Real Madrid and Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois has been named the Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper in 2018 after winning the Golden Glove award at World Cup in Russia.
After leading France to World Cup glory in Russia, Didier Deschamps has been named the Best FIFA Men’s Coach for 2018.
FIFA have published the full breakdown of just who voted for who in The Best FIFA Men’s Player award polling and the Toe Poke has rooted through the data so you don’t have to.
The votes were cast by all international captains and coaches, as well as selected media representatives from each FIFA member nation, with everybody asked to pick their top three players from a 10-man shortlist.
Luka Modric won the award after helping Real Madrid win a third consecutive Champions League crown and captaining Croatia to the World Cup final.
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The final result was as follows (percentage of vote in brackets):
1. Luka Modric (29.05)
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (19.08)
3. Mohamed Salah (11.23)
4. Kylian Mbappe (10.52)
5. Lionel Messi (9.81)
6. Antoine Griezmann (6.69)
7. Eden Hazard (5.65)
8. Kevin De Bruyne (3.54)
9. Raphael Varane (3.45)
10. Harry Kane (0.98)
Here are some of the most notable nuggets the voting data revealed:
Cristiano Ronaldo did not get the memo about mutual voting with Lionel Messi.
For the first time ever, Lionel Messi voted for Cristiano Ronaldo (as his third pick) but Ronaldo did not return the favour.
Instead, the Portugal captain chose to extend a hand across the Madrid divide by giving his third selection to Antoine Griezmann.
Luka Modric did likewise, voting for Raphael Varane, Ronaldo and Griezmann in that order.
Raphael Varane could be forgiven for asking why he didn’t receive more than 3.45 percent of the vote.
Raphael Varane attracted a lot of votes, with Ronaldo and Modric even selecting him as their No.1 pick.
The France and Real Madrid centre-back earned 53 votes across the board — the most of any defender.
However, as the only player to win both the Champions League and the World Cup in 2018, it’s perhaps not overly surprising.
Harry Kane’s status as the World Cup’s top scorer didn’t cut much ice with the voters.
He may have scored a cavalcade of goals and won the Golden Boot at the World Cup, but Harry Kane didn’t feature highly in the running as the England skipper had to settle for a light smattering of third-pick votes.
However, Kane did manage to amass a small pocket of support from the captains of the Bahamas, Chinese Taipei and Vanuatu national teams, who all named the Spurs striker as their best player in the world.
Kevin De Bruyne Premier League-winning exploits and World Cup semifinal run only earned him two top votes.
Kevin De Bruyne picked up two first-pick nominations from his fellow players, with Ecuador captain Tano Bonnin and Charlie Mulgrew of Scotland both plumping for the Belgian midfielder as their favourite player.
Kane selected De Bruyne at No. 3, which is fair enough considering Belgium beat England twice at the World Cup (though De Bruyne only played in the third-place playoff).
Hugo Lloris made it an un, deux, trois with his votes for France teammates.
France captain Hugo Lloris kept it all in-house, handing all three of his picks to his fellow World Cup-winning compatriots — naming Varane as his No. 1 and then Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe in second and third respectively.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah had a little help from his friends in the voting.
Mohamed Salah picked up 11.23 percent of the total vote to finish in third overall, though it was mostly the captains of minor FIFA nations who backed the Egyptian winger.
That said, No. 1 picks did come in from Netherlands (captained by Virgil van Dijk) and Estonia (Ragnar Klavan), both of whom are better acquainted with Salah’s skills than most.
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