Luka Modric Beat Ronaldo, Salah to Win Fifa Player of the Year Award

Luka Modric has been named the Fifa men’s footballer of the year at a ceremony in London, with Brazil’s Marta crowned the world’s best female player.

The 33-year-old Modric won the Champions League for the third time in a row with his club, Real Madrid, in May before leading Croatia to the 2018 World Cup final, where they lost 4-2 to France.

Modric won the award, officially called The Best Fifa Men’s Player, ahead of his former Real Madrid teammate, Cristiano Ronaldo, with Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah third. Ronaldo had won the two previous editions of the revamped award in 2016 and 2017.

Marta was named the Fifa women’s player of the year for the sixth time, but the first award since 2010. The 32-year-old currently plays for US side Orlando Pride, and beat Olympique Lyonnais duo Ada Hegerberg and Dzsenifer Marozsán.

France’s World Cup winning coach, Didier Deschamps, was named coach of the year and Salah won the Puskás award for the year’s best goal, for his strike against Everton in December.