Luka Modric has broken a decade of award dominance by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi after being crowned world footballer of the year by FIFA, while Marta won the women's award for a sixth time.
Modric was voted FIFA's best player in the 2017-18 season after winning the Champions League for a fourth time in five seasons with Real Madrid and leading Croatia to its first World Cup final where it lost to France.
Messi and Ronaldo have been the only winners of world soccer's main individual award from FIFA in various guises since 2008, both winning five titles each.
Croatia's soccer star Luka Modric, nominee for the Best FIFA Men's Player award, and his wife Vanja Bosnic, his son Ivano and his daughter Ema, arrive for the ceremony of the Best FIFA Football Awards in the Royal Festival Hall in London, Britain, Monday, Sept. 24, 2018. (AP PhotoFrank Augstein)
Messi didn't make the three-man shortlist and skipped the trip to London. Ronaldo was shortlisted but also didn't turn up at the ceremony to be dethroned in person by his former Real Madrid teammate. Egypt forward Mohamed Salah also made the top three for the first time.
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Egypt's soccer star Mohamed Salah receives the FIFA Puskas award during the ceremony of the Best FIFA Football Awards in the Royal Festival Hall in London, Britain, Monday, Sept. 24, 2018. (AP PhotoFrank Augstein)