Real Madrid midfielder wins ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah
Luka Modric has been named UEFA Men’s Player of the Year ahead of former Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah.
The midfielder picks up the award after guiding Real Madrid to a third straight Champions League title and inspiring Croatia to the World Cup final – where they lost to France.
Modric received 313 points in the voting to finish ahead of three-time winner Ronaldo (223pts), who has gone on to join Juventus after scoring 44 goals in 44 games for Real last season.
Salah came third (134pts) after a stellar first season at Anfield, having scored 44 times in all competitions as Liverpool finished fourth in the Premier League and runners-up to Real in Europe.
A jury of 80 coaches from last season’s Champions League and Europa League group stages, as well as one journalist from each of UEFA’s 55 member associations, chose their top three players.
Their first pick received five points, the second three points and third one point. Coaches could not pick players from their own team.
Meanwhile, a quartet of positional awards were handed out, with goalkeeper Keylor Navas and defender Sergio Ramos winning their respective categories, with Modric the Midfielder of the Season and Ronaldo Forward of the Season.
Women’s Player of the Year was given to Pernille Harder (Wolfsburg & Denmark), who beat Ada Hegerberg (Lyon) and Amandine Henry (Portland Thorns/Lyon & France) to the award.
