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FIFA Best Awards: Luka Modric beats Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah to top award
FIFA Best Awards - Luka Modric beat Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah to the top award of the night in London.
FIFA Football Awards: Luka Modric named Best Men's Player
Real Madrid star Modric won the top gong after his stunning year.
The 33-year-old helped Madrid seal a third Champions League in a row and inspired Croatia to the World Cup final.
Modric collected the award from Idris Elba and Gianni Infantino at the end of the night in the Royal Festival Hall in London.
Elsewhere Marta picked up the Best Women’s Player, Didier Deschamps won coach of the year, Thibaut Courtois won best goalkeeper and Mohamed Salah won the award for best goal.
Modric speaks
Luka Modric reveals how it feels to collect the award.
The Madrid ace dedicates the gong to Zvonimir Boban, who lead Croatia during the World Cup in 1998.
"It is a great honour and a beautiful feeling to stand here with this amazing trophy. First of all I would like to congratulate Mohamed and Cristiano,” he said.
"I am sure in the future you will have another opportunity to fight for this trophy.
"This award is not just mine. It is my teammates from Real Madrid and Croatia. Without my coaches I would not have won this. Without my family I would not be the player I am today.
"Thanks to my fans for all the great support and love they are showing me. It means a lot. Thanks to those who voted for me.
"I would just like to mention my footballing idol and former 1998 Croatia captain. He was my big inspiration and that team gave us belief we could create something in Russia.
"This award shows that we can all become the best with hard work and dedication. All your dreams can come true."
Modric wins!
Luka Modric wins the top award as the FIFA Best Player - beating Mohamed Salah and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Croatia star had a brilliant year, getting to the World Cup final and winning the Champions League again.
Modric won the Golden Ball at the World Cup and UEFA Men’s Player of the Year earlier this summer.
Modric's win breaks the Lionel Messi-Ronaldo duopoly of the last 10 years and it follows his player of the tournament prize at Russia 2018 and UEFA player of the year accolade last month.
Women's award
Marta of Orlando Pride and Brazil picks up the Best Women’s Player award.
The 32-year-old has 110 goals in 133 games for Brazil and has long been considered the best player in the women’s game.
She was runner up in 2016 and has now finally won the award.
She has won the FIFA World Player of the year five times, been runner up four times and third twice.
The FIFPRO XI is…
David De Gea
Dani Alves
Raphael Varane
Sergio Ramos
Marcelo
Luka Modric
N’golo Kante
Eden Hazard
Lionel Messi
Kylian Mbappe
Cristiano Ronaldo
Peru fans win for World Cup adventure
Peru fans have been voted the best for their showing at the World Cup.
The South Americans trekked to Russia to see their team give their all and come away with loads of credit.
They lost to Denmark and France, both 1-0, before beating Australia 2-0 in their final game.
Lennart Thy picks up the award for FIFA Fair Play.
'Don't look back in anger'...
Noel Gallagher is on stage doing ‘his thing’ as the awards take a break.
We needed that. They were coming fast and furious.
So far Salah looks to have stolen his award but Courtois looks good value for his.
Fans on Twitter weren’t sure about the Salah decision…
Courtois up next
Thibaut Courtois takes goalkeeper of the year.
The Real Madrid man, who joined from Chelsea this summer, accepted his award after beating Hugo Lloris and Kasper Schmeichel.
The Best Women’s coach award goes to Lyon boss Reynald Pedros.
Lyon won the Champions League again this season.
Deschamps named top boss
Didier Deschamps beats fellow Frenchman Zinedine Zidane to the Coach of the Year.
The World Cup winner collected the gong from Arsene Wenger
He thanks his boss, the president of the French Federation…
First award goes to… Mohamed Salah
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah wins the Puskas Award for the best goal of the year.
He beats the likes of Gareth Bale and Benjamin Pavard to the gong to the surprise of many.
It was Salah’s goal against Everton that took the award.
Salah gave a small acceptance speech but said little of interest.
Here we go…
Idris Elba is leading proceedings as we get underway in London for the FIFA Best Awards.
The nine awards will be handed out through the night with Luka Modric expected to take the big one.
The Croatian got to the World Cup final and won the Champions League.
Cristiano Ronaldo has stayed away suggesting he has not won. Mohamed Salah is there though…
FIFA Best Awards LIVE updates - Follow the latest
No small talk for Salah
Mohamed Salah snubbed Sky presenter Kelly Cates on his way into the awards.
Cates asked for a moment of Salah’s time on his way in on the green carpet.
But he shook Gary Neville’s hand and walked straight by.
Must be eager to check out the free food on offer tonight…
Hazard a guess...
Eden Hazard has his say on the voting for tonight.
“I vote for Modric, but for me, Mo Salah is my friend, so I want him to win,” he said on arrival.
The Chelsea has started the season like a house on fire after an excellent World Cup.
Maybe he’s thinking about being in the running next year.
Some big names have walked along the *GREEN* carpet tonight for the FIFA award show.
Dani Alves, Arsene Wenger, Fabio Capello, Gianni Infantino, Roberto Martinez, Nwankwo Kanu, Clint Dempsey. The A-LIST.
It should prove to be an interesting night. Modric won the World Cup’s best player award despite being beaten in the final and is the hot favourite tonight.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah are the other options but all signs point towards Modric for the time being.
Categories
Who could win the awards?
The Best Fifa Men's Player
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus & Portugal)
Luka Modric (Real Madrid & Croatia)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool & Egypt)
The Best Fifa Women's Player
Ada Hegerberg (Lyon & Norway)
Dzsenifer Marozsan (Lyon & Germany)
Marta (Orlando Pride & Brazil)
The Best Fifa Men's Coach
Zlatko Dalic (Croatia)
Didier Deschamps (France)
Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid)
The Best Fifa Women's Coach
Reynald Pedros (Lyon)
Asako Takakura (Japan)
Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands)
The Fifa Puskas Award
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid vs Liverpool)
Denis Cheryshev (Russia vs Croatia)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid vs Juventus)
Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (AEK vs Olympiakos)
Giorgian De Arrascaeta (Cruzeiro vs America MG)
Riley McGree (Newcastle Jets vs Melbourne City)
Lionel Messi (Argentina vs Nigeria, World Cup)
Benjamin Pavard (France vs Argentina, World Cup)
Ricardo Quaresma (Portugal vs Iran, World Cup)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool vs Everton)
The Fifa Goalkeeper Award
Thibaut Courtois (Belgium & Real Madrid)
Kasper Schmeichel (Denmark & Leicester)
Hugo Lloris (France & Tottenham)
The Fifa Fan Award
Sebastian Carrera, Coquimbo Unido – Chilean Primea B
Japan and Senegal supporters - World Cup
Peru supporters - World Cup
Fifa Fifpro World11
Goalkeepers (5): Gianluigi Buffon (Italy/Paris Saint-Germain/Juventus FC), Thibaut Courtois (Belgium/Real Madrid CF/Chelsea FC), David De Gea (Spain/Manchester United FC), Keylor Navas (Costa Rica/Real Madrid CF), Marc-André ter Stegen (Germany/FC Barcelona).
Defenders (20): Jordi Alba (Spain/FC Barcelona), Daniel Carvajal (Spain/Real Madrid CF), Giorgio Chiellini (Italy/Juventus), Dani Alves (Brazil/Paris Saint-Germain), Diego Godin (Uruguay/Atletico Madrid), Mats Hummels (Germany/FC Bayern Munich), Joshua Kimmich (Germany/FC Bayern Munich) Dejan Lovren (Croatia/Liverpool), Marcelo (Brazil/Real Madrid CF), Yerry Mina (Colombia/Everton/FC Barcelona), Benjamin Pavard (France/VfB Stuttgart), Gerard Pique (Spain/FC Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Spain/Real Madrid CF), Thiago Silva (Brazil/Paris Saint-Germain), Kieran Trippier (England/Tottenham Hotspur), Samuel Umtiti (France/FC Barcelona), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands/Liverpool), Raphael Varane (France/Real Madrid CF), Sime Vrsaljko (Croatia/Internazionale/Atletico Madrid), Kyle Walker (England/Manchester City).
Midfielders (15): Sergio Busquets (Spain/FC Barcelona), Casemiro (Brazil/Real Madrid CF), Philippe Coutinho (Brazil/FC Barcelona), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Belgium, Chelsea), Andres Iniesta (Spain/Vissel Kobe/FC Barcelona), Isco (Spain/Real Madrid CF), N’Golo Kante (France/Chelsea), Toni Kroos (Germany/Real Madrid CF), Nemanja Matic (Serbia/Manchester United FC), Luka Modric (Croatia/Real Madrid CF), Paul Pogba (France/Manchester United), Ivan Rakitic (Croatia/FC Barcelona), David Silva (Spain/Manchester City), Arturo Vidal (Chile/FC Barcelona/FC Bayern Munich).
Forwards (15): Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid CF), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay/Paris Saint-Germain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Juventus/Real Madrid CF), Paulo Dybala (Argentina/Juventus), Antoine Griezmann (France/Atletico Madrid), Harry Kane (England/Tottenham Hotspur), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/FC Bayern Munich), Romelu Lukaku (Belgium/Manchester United), Mario Mandzukic (Croatia/Juventus), Sadio Mane (Senegal/Liverpool), Kylian Mbappe (France/Paris Saint-Germain), Lionel Messi (Argentina/FC Barcelona), Neymar (Brazil/Paris Saint-Germain), Mohamed Salah (Egypt/Liverpool), Luis Suarez (Uruguay/FC Barcelona).
How are the awards decided?
The FIFA Best Awards is FIFA’s version of the Ballon d’Or, but it relies on votes to pick the winners.
The vote is broken down into: 25% public, 25% to members of the world's media, 25% to national team coaches, and 25% national team captains.
Categories
The FIFA Best Awards covers nine different categories with the awards all to be handed out tonight - these are as follows.
The Best Fifa Men's Player
The Best Fifa Women's Player
The Best Fifa Men's Coach
The Best Fifa Women's Coach
The Best Fifa Goalkeeper
The Fifa Fair Play Award
The Fifa Puskás Award
The Fifa Fan Award
Fifa Fifpro World11
Welcome
Hello and welcome to the FIFA Best Awards.
Live TV coverage of the event begins at 7.30pm on Sky Sports but we’ll run you through the goings on before that gets underway.
Luka Modric remains favourite for the main award tonight as he heads the shortlist with Mohamed Salah and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Other awards on offer include the Puskas award for the best goal and the Coach of the year.