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Paris, December 4
Luka Modric saw off competition from a host of French World Cup stars as the Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder won the 2018 Ballon d'Or, ending the 10-year stranglehold on the award by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Modric, 33, was announced as the winner of the prestigious prize in a glitzy ceremony held in Paris. Ronaldo was second, with France and Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann completing the podium. Paris Saint-Germain's teenage forward Kylian Mbappe came fourth, leaving Messi to settle for the fifth position. Another Frenchman, Modric's Madrid teammate Raphael Varane, was seventh, just behind Liverpool's Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah.
Kopa Trophy for Mbappe
Mbappe, who does not turn 20 until later this month, picked up the consolation prize of the Kopa Trophy for the best young player. The gala ceremony also saw a women's Ballon d'Or named for the first time, with Lyon's prolific Norwegian striker Ada Hegerberg taking that award. Modric — the oldest winner since Italy's Fabio Cannavaro, also 33, in 2006 — was crowned after an outstanding year in which he starred in the Real side that retained the Champions League before heroically helping drag his country to the final of the World Cup for the first time in their history.
Croatia lost 2-4 to France in Moscow in the final in July. The prize comes after Modric claimed the Golden Ball for the best player at the World Cup before picking up UEFA's prize for player of the season and FIFA's best player award in September. Ronaldo and Messi were among 30 nominees for the Ballon d'Or, organised by France Football magazine and which takes votes from 180 journalists from around the world. The Portuguese star played with Modric in the Madrid side that won the Champions League before moving to Juventus in a typically prolific year, while Messi has again been outstanding with Barcelona. The pair had won the prize five times each in the last decade but both are now in their 30s and neither stamped their authority on the World Cup. Messi finishes outside the top-3 in the voting for the first time since 2006.
Big for women's game
The last time a Frenchman won the Ballon d'Or came in 1998, when Zinedine Zidane was rewarded for starring as Les Bleus won that year's World Cup. But perhaps the lack of a single standout French candidate cleared the path for Modric — Hugo Lloris, Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kante had also been in the running, as had England striker Harry Kane, the World Cup's top-scorer. — Reuters