On Monday evening in Paris, an esteemed "Ballon d'Or" awards ceremony took place. During it, three individual prizes were awarded, which were established by the "France Football" magazine.
The main focus of these awards was directed towards the men's "Golden Ball" award. The ten-year dominance of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi was interrupted by Croatian national team and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modrić, who was recognized as the best footballer of 2018.
Modrić, who triumphed with Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League and led Croatia to the World Cup final, according to journalists' votes had no equal – he garnered 763 points, while Cristiano Ronaldo, who remained in second place, received 476.
In third place was Antoine Griezmann (414 points). The fourth place went to the "golden boy" Kylian Mbappe (347 points). A huge surprise was that the five-time best player in the world Lionel Messi was relegated to just fifth place, despite not having any equal competitors according to last season's statistics.
Modrić became the first footballer since 2007, when the trophy was not won by Messi or Ronaldo. This year, the Croatian received all the best awards - he also triumphed in the UEFA and FIFA rankings.
The best young player was named as Paris Saint-Germain's diamond Kylian Mbappé, who effortlessly surpassed players like Trent Alexander-Arnold, Gianluigi Donnarumma, among others in these awards.
The best female footballer was recognized as Ada Hegerberg, who won the Women's UEFA Champions League with Lyon. This was the first time in Ballon d'Or history that the award was given to a female representative.
Top 30 footballers:
30-29. Hugo Lloris ("Tottenham", French national team)
30-29. Isco (Real Madrid, Spain)
28. Diego Godin ("Atletico", Uruguay)
27-25. Alisson ("Liverpool", Brazil)
27-25. Jan Oblak ("Atletico", Slovenia)
27-25. Mario Mandžukić ("Juventus", Croatia)
24-22. Marcelo (Real Madrid, Brazil)
24-22. Sadio Mane ("Liverpool", Senegal)
24-22. Edinson Cavani (PSG, Uruguay)
21-19. Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid, Spain)
21-19. Ivan Rakitić ("Barcelona", Croatia)
21-19. Roberto Firmino ("Liverpool", Brazil)
18-17. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid, Wales)
18-17. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
16. Sergio Agüero ("Man City", Argentina)
15. Paul Pogba ("Man Utd", France)
14. Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium)
13. Luis Suárez ("Barcelona", Uruguay)
12. Neymar (PSG, Brazil)
11. N'Golo Kanté ("Chelsea", France)
10. Harry Kane ("Tottenham", England)
9. Kevin De Bruyne ("Man City", Belgium)
8. Eden Hazard ("Chelsea", Belgium)
7. Raphael Varane (Real Madrid, France)
6. Mohamed Salah ("Liverpool", Egypt)
5. Lionel Messi ("Barcelona", Argentina)
4. Kylian Mbappé (PSG, France)
3. Antoine Griezmann ("Atletico", France)
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus, Portugal)
1. Luka Modrić (Real Madrid, Croatia)
