Ballon D'Or 2018 Results: Modric, Hegerberg Win; Mbappe Takes Kopa Trophy
France Football doled out its 2018 Ballon d'Or award, in addition to two new honors–a women's Ballon d'Or and the Kopa Trophy given to the world's best men's player under 21–in a ceremony on Monday, and after a decade, the duopoly on the men's side is over.
The Ballon d'Or had gone to either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi for each of the last 10 years (five apiece), but that streak is over after Luka Modric pipped the former to the trophy in Paris. It's little surprise after Modric swept the World Cup Golden Ball, and UEFA and FIFA's best player honors in recent months. The Croatian, who won the Champions League with Real Madrid and led his country to its first World Cup final, is the first non-Messi or Ronaldo player since Kaka in 2007 to win the award.
Ronaldo, Modric's former Real Madrid teammate, finished in second, followed by Atletico Madrid and France forward Antoine Griezmann and PSG and France forward Kylian Mbappe. Messi's fifth-place finish marks his worst standing since 2006 and the first time he hasn't cracked the top three since then–all despite leading European players in goals and sparking Barcelona to the domestic double in Spain. France's World Cup triumph clearly factored in heavily in the voting, though Griezmann won the Europa League with Atletico Madrid and Mbappe won a domestic treble with PSG.
Modric is the first Croatia international to win the award.
Norway and Lyon star Ada Hegerberg made history and won the first women's Ballon d'Or. She did the Champions League and Ligue 1 Feminine double, and at 23 is already one of the world's most prolific attackers.
Hegerberg bested a group of 15 finalists, which included USWNT stars Lindsey Horan and Megan Rapinoe; France's Amandine Henry, Amel Majri and Wendi Renard; Brazilian veteran Marta; Australian goal machine Sam Kerr; Denmark standout Pernille Harder; Netherlands' Lieke Martens; Germany's Dzsenifer Marozsan; Japan's Saki Kumagai; Canada's Christine Sinclair and English stars Lucy Bronze and Fran Kirby.
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Mbappe, as expected, won the Kopa Trophy after helping lead France to the World Cup title and PSG to multiple domestic trophies. He bested Trent Alexander-Arnold, Houssem Aouar, Patrick Cutrone, Ritsu Doan, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Amadou Haidara, Justin Kluivert, Christian Pulisic and Rodrygo to win the trophy. Pulisic, the U.S. national team's 20-year-old star, finished a distant second behind Mbappe.
France Football unveiled its top 30 for the men's Ballon d'Or in reverse order leading up to the revealing of the winner. Here they are:
29 (tied) - Isco (Real Madrid, Spain)
29 (tied) - Hugo Lloris (Tottenham, France)
28 - Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid, Uruguay)
25 (tied) - Mario Mandzukic (Juventus, Croatia)
25 (tied) - Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid, Slovakia)
25 (tied) - Alisson (Roma/Liverpool, Brazil)
22 (tied) - Marcelo (Real Madrid, Brazil)
22 (tied) - Sadio Mane (Liverpool, Senegal)
22 (tied) - Edinson Cavani (PSG, Uruguay)
19 (tied) - Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona, Croatia)
19 (tied) - Roberto Firmino (Liverpool, Brazil)
19 (tied) - Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid, Spain)
17 (tied) - Gareth Bale (Real Madrid, Wales)
17 (tied) - Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France)
16 - Sergio Aguero (Man City, Argentina)
15 -Paul Pogba (Man United, France)
14 - Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea/Real Madrid, Belgium)
13 - Luis Suarez (Barcelona, Uruguay)
12 - Neymar (PSG, Brazil)
11 - N'Golo Kante (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 Mbappe (PSG, France)
3 - Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid, France)
2 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Juventus, Portugal)
1 - Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia)
