Ballon d'Or 2018: Luka Modric beats Cristiano Ronaldo to award in Paris ceremony
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Luka Modric won the Ballon d'Or award for the first time on Monday, ending the 10-year dominance of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Modric won the Champions League with Real Madrid and then guided Croatia to the World Cup final in July. He was voted player of the tournament.
"As a kid we all have dreams. My dream was to play for a big club and win important trophies," Modric said. "The Ballon d'Or was more than just a dream for me and it is really an honor and a privilege to hold this trophy."
Ronaldo was second in the Ballon d'Or followed by France forward Antoine Griezmann. France's teen star, Kylian Mbappe, was fourth in the polling. Brazil star Neymar, who was third last year, was a lowly 12th despite a domestic treble with Paris Saint-Germain.
Norwegian forward Ada Hegerberg won the inaugural women's Ballon d'Or.
Re-live the ceremony:
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load
Luis Suarez is next out of the bag in 13th.
The Uruguayan has led the line brilliantly with Lionel Messi missing on occasions, scoring nine goals from the 13 La Liga games this season.
That has come after his 31 goals last season which saw Barcelona reclaim the La Liga title.
Not where the Brazilian would liked to have finished after scoring 30 goals in Ligue 1 after just 32 games, which is a record over the last 45 seasons.
He's not due out for a while yet in the listings, but this just demonstrates Ronaldo's Champions League dominance.
Chelsea's N'Golo Kante just misses out on the top 10 in 11th, but it is nonetheless an excellent time to remember what a stellar World Cup the diminutive Frenchman had to help France lift the prize.
It's not a good day for the event in France after the leaks of the main prize.
It doesn't seem news has been kept in house either for the inaugural Kopa Trophy, which although not official could very well be true going on what has preceded us so far.
↵Neymar continues to divide opinion off the field as much as he does off it.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments