FIFA Awards: Messi Among 29 Percent Voters Who Opted For Modric

With this win, Modric ended the duopoly of Messi & Ronaldo, who have shared the award among themselves since 2008.

Luka Modric with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who gave him the Best FIFA Awards in London on Monday. 

(Photo: AP)

Croatian footballer Luka Modric was named the world's best male player at the Best Fifa Football Awards in London on Monday night.

The 33-year-old Real Madrid midfielder beat former team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, now with Juventus, and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah to the award.

Modric, who joined Madrid from Tottenham in 2012, received 29 percent of votes from the coaches and captains of national teams, reporters and fans. Five-time winner Lionel Messi was among the voters who decided to go with Modric.

Modric won his third Champions League title in a row in May and guided Croatia to their first World Cup final in July.

With this win, Modric ended the duopoly of Messi and Ronaldo, who have been winning the award among themselves for the last ten years, since 2008.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo and Modric each voted for Real Madrid's Raphael Varane.

Ronaldo, who left Madrid in the off-season to join Italian champion Juventus, was second with 19 percent. He captained European Portugal to a round-of-16 exit at the World Cup.

Mohamed Salah was third with 11 percent votes after scoring a record 32 goals in a 38-game English Premier League season for Liverpool.(Photo: AP)

Mohamed Salah was third with 11 percent after scoring a record 32 goals in a 38-game English Premier League season for Liverpool, which reached its first Champions League final in 11 years.

France forward Kylian Mbappe was fourth and Messi fifth with just under 10 percent of the vote. Messi scored 45 goals for Barcelona, which won the Spanish title, but only netted once at the World Cup as Argentina was eliminated in the round of 16.

Before Modric, Brazil’s Kaka was the last player other than Messi or Ronaldo to claim the men's prize from FIFA in 2007.

Here’s a look at the winners of the FIFA player of the year award since the onset of the new millennium:

• 2018 — Luka Modric, Croatia
• 2017 — Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal
• 2016 — Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal
• 2015 — Lionel Messi, Argentina
• 2014 — Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal
• 2013 — Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal
• 2012 — Lionel Messi, Argentina
• 2011 — Lionel Messi, Argentina
• 2010 — Lionel Messi, Argentina
• 2009 — Lionel Messi, Argentina
• 2008 — Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal
• 2007 — Kaka, Brazil
• 2006 — Fabio Cannavaro, Italy
• 2005 — Ronaldinho, Brazil
• 2004 — Ronaldinho, Brazil
• 2003 — Zinedine Zidane, France
• 2002 — Ronaldo, Brazil
• 2001 — Luis Figo, Portugal
• 2000 — Zinedine Zidane, France