Top 5 footballers of 2018

#4 Luka Modric

Luka Modric won the Golden Ball after leading Croatia to the finals of the 2018 World Cup

Luka Modric ensured his place in the annals of history by joining an illustrious list of past Ballon d'Or winners. What made the Croat's win more spectacular was the fact that he beat arguably the two greatest players of all time to achieve the feat.

The 33-year-old has been a steady performer in the Real Madrid side for the last six seasons, with his uncanny ability to dictate the tempo of matches and precise distributions helping Los Blancos to a plethora of titles in that time.

He however took his performance a notch higher this year, first starring as Real Madrid won the Champions League for the third season on the trot, before going on to give arguably his best individual performance at the World Cup where he captained an unfancied Croatia side all the way to the final of the tournament and his displays deservedly won him the World Cup Golden Ball.

Off the back of his displays in Russia, Modric was named the UEFA and FIFA Player of the Year, in addition to winning the Ballon d'Or. Even though there was a lot of debate as to his deservedness, there is no denying that it has truly been a spectacular year for Modric and he would have been higher up this list but for the fact that he has been uncharacteristically off-colour this season.