The Ballon d’Or is an annual football award presented by France Football. It has been awarded since 1956, although between 2010 and 2015, an agreement was made with FIFA and the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year, and known as the FIFA Ballon d’Or.
Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric won the Ballon d’Or award for the first time on Monday, bringing to a pause or end the 10-year reign of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Modric, who has won the Champions League four times with Madrid, was fifth in Ballon d’Or polling last year.
Cristiano Ronaldo missed out on a record sixth award, which would have moved him one ahead of Lionel Messi. The Brazilian midfielder Kaka was the last player to win it in 2007 before those two started dominating world soccer awards.
The 2018 Ballon d’Or was the 63rd annual award ceremony recognizing the best footballer in the world for 2018