Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder, Luka Modric has been named FIFA World Player of the Year of 2018.
The 33-year old was awarded the biggest individual footballing prize at the Award ceremony on Monday night at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
Modric had an outstanding season, from helping Real Madrid to a third successive Champions League title to leading Croatia to a second place finish at the 2018 World Cup where they lost out to France and was named Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.
The Croatia captain saw off competition from Liverpool's Mohammed Salah and former teammate, Cristiano Ronaldo who has since joined Juventus and was conspicuously absent at the event .
Idris Elba who hosted the show took a soft jibe at Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi who were both absent from the awards when the FIFPro XI were called out and the two were mentioned in absentia, he said "Ronaldo and Messi, whom we know not".
Modric becomes the first player in 10 years to break the duopoly of dominance between Ronaldo and Messi who have each won the award on five occasions.
This is coming few weeks after the former Tottenham star was named UEFA Player of the Year also, beating Cristiano Ronaldo Mohammed Salah to the award.